Lotte Mart boosts fresh oyster supply by 50%, offers up to 35% discount

Lotte Mart said it will sell all fresh oyster products at discounts of up to 35% during the second week of its "Mega Tongkeun" sale, running Thursday through Wednesday. The retailer secured 1.5 times the oyster volume it carried during the same period last year.

High water temperatures at Japanese oyster farms have caused mass die-offs, prompting Japanese distributors to buy more Korean oysters and tightening domestic supply. The average October price of shucked oysters at Noryangjin Fish Market came in at 13,800 won ($10) per kilogram, up 30.5 percent from a year earlier.

Lotte Mart locked in advance purchase contracts two months before prices began rising and expanded its sourcing to farms in Tongyeong, Geoje and Goseong in Gangwon Province to secure sufficient volume.

L.Point members can apply an additional 20% seafood discount during the sale, bringing the total markdown to as much as 35%. Fresh oysters will be priced at 1,912 won per 100 grams, while a large 400-gram bag will sell for 7,920 won.

Starting in mid-November, Lotte Mart will introduce temperature-sensitive packaging that changes color based on storage conditions, allowing shoppers to check at a glance whether oysters have been kept at the proper temperature in store.