Spanish Dried Figs in South Korea: Buyer's Guide

Spanish figs already have a place on Korean shelves, mostly as semi-dried fruit in 300g to 1kg packs. Retail prices run from 9,650 won for a 300g pack to 18,610 won per kilo, according to the Ispalo Price Index. The opportunity is not to compete on price with Turkish volume. It is to sell origin, traceability and a chewier, less sugary bite to buyers who already pay a premium for imported dried fruit. Why is demand for dried figs growing in South Korea? Asia's fig market expanded from 461,500 to 572,100 tonnes between 2018 and 2022, then slipped to 545,700 tonnes in 2023, according to FAOSTAT . Rising incomes and wider availability drove the earlier growth. Government subsidies and health trends shaped the rest. Korea sits inside that arc: a high-income OECD economy where imported dried fruit has moved from specialty shops into mainstream e-commerce and subscription boxes. The category benefits from a simple consumer story. Figs are sweet without added sugar, they carry fibre, and they fit the small-format snacking that Korean convenience retail does well. That is why semi-dried figs, not fully dried ones, dominate the shelf. The softer texture suits a market that treats dried fruit as a snack rather than a baking ingredient. What does the Korean shelf actually look like? The shelf is fragmented and price-led. Multi-packs are everywhere, and unit economics improve fast when a shopper buys two or three bags. A 300g pack of THEHARU semi-dried figs sells for 9,650 won, two for 16,900 won, three for 25,350 won and four for 33,800 won. That is a classic Korean volume ladder: the fourth bag costs the shopper roughly 8,450 won, well below the single-unit price. At the kilo level, the spread is wider. Damap's mini semi-dried figs list at 13,400 won for 1kg, 25,300 won for two and 37,200 won for three. Dadam sells 1kg at 15,400 won and three kilos at 43,200 won. Peak Brand dried figs sit at 17,900 won per kilo. A listing described as freshly cleared through customs, Sinseonm