Fruit prices ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday are likely to be higher than last year.

According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT), wholesale prices of apples and pears with high demand for the holiday rose sharply from a year ago.

As of last Friday, three weeks before the holiday, the wholesale prices of apples were eight-thousand-880 won per ten kilograms, up 96 percent from a year earlier and about 80 percent from previous years.

The wholesale prices of pears stood at 77-thousand-740 won per 15 kilograms, up 66-point-two percent on-year and 46 percent from previous years.

The price increases are attributed to decreased production due to a series of natural disasters last year.

Prices of livestock products remain relatively stable, but the government is closely monitoring supply and demand as there is a possibility of fluctuations due to infectious animal diseases such as avian influenza and the African swine fever.

As of Friday, the wholesale prices of Korean hanwoo beef were 14-thousand-768 won per kilogram, up nine-point-five percent from a year ago. However, the figure was four-point-four percent lower than the comparable figure for three weeks before last year’s Lunar New Year holiday.

The wholesale price of pork also rose six-point-two percent on-year to five-thousand-121 won per kilogram, but it's six-point-one percent lower than the figure for three weeks before last year’s holiday.