<Anchor> This
is a friendly economic time.
Today (11th), I will be with reporter Han Ji-yeon.
Are you saying that buying golf clubs is so difficult these days?
<Reporter>
There are people saying that they can't buy a popular product they want to buy because there are no items in the store, but the number of golfers has increased a lot since Corona.
As the golf population surpassed 5 million for the first time last year, the market size is expected to exceed KRW 6 trillion this year.
There are also predictions like this, but there are a lot of people who want to buy, but the supply doesn't support it.
On the Internet, I noticed quite a few products that were 'out of stock' or had to wait for them to arrive.
In department stores, golf clubs are 'out of stock' to the extent that some have even stopped selling reservations at all.
[A department store official: We are not taking reservations, and even if we do take reservations, we are talking about three to five months.]
[B department store official: Demand is very strong.
For this year's (popular) new product, it's very difficult to get the quantity...
.]
The shortage of golf clubs started at the end of last year, but the supply problem has become more prominent recently.
<Anchor>
Is that so?
You say used golf clubs are more expensive these days than new ones?
<Reporter>
Yes, you may be familiar with this phenomenon. In the case of luxury goods that are difficult to obtain immediately, they are sold at a higher price in the second-hand market.
This is now being seen in golf clubs.
It is a driver that is sold for 700,000 won on the internet, but when I checked it on a used platform, the price was formed at 800,000 won.
Since it is difficult to find popular products and new products, the number of people looking for used products is also increasing, leading to a price reversal phenomenon.
If you look at only one used platform, it is 22.3 billion won this year alone, which is an increase of 185% compared to a year ago.
The number of sales also reached 120,000, a 132% increase.
<Anchor>
Now, second-hand prices are getting more expensive, and it's difficult to buy now. As a reporter explained earlier, this situation is due to a lack of supply.
But why is the supply so short?
<Reporter>
This is all because of Putin.
You can see it this way, the raw material supply and demand problem is serious due to the corona, but it got worse because of the war.
The golf club material is nickel alloy.
However, this nickel, a core material for electric vehicle batteries, is a precious body.
Due to restrictions on exports to Russia, the third largest supplier in the world, the price jumped so much that it almost doubled from the day of the invasion of Ukraine.
Titanium, which is used in driver heads, also accounts for over one-fifth of Russia's total production.
It is not easy to produce golf clubs.
[Golf Supplies Personnel: In fact, golf clubs are structured in a separate head, shaft, and grip, and then assembled in one place.
(If something punctures, you can't make it?) It's a structure that doesn't produce finished products.]
Still, it's an industrial raw material crisis, but the production of golf clubs is inevitably pushed aside.
<Anchor>
With the outbreak of Corona and then war, the supply shortage we have been talking about since last year is getting worse.
That's what it's like.
They say it will take longer to get a new car this year as the supply shortage is getting worse?
<Reporter>
Yes, it is.
This is because the shortage of semiconductors for vehicles continues in the first half of this year.
Still, the petrol model is waiting a little less.
Hyundai's Grandeur, Santa Fe, and Avante can be received around the end of this year.
Hybrids or electric vehicles require more parts, so it takes up to 6 months longer, but the Ioniq 5 can be received around this time next year.
Kia's situation is worse.
For Sportage and Sorento, gasoline models take about 10 to 11 months.
In the case of a hybrid, it takes 1 year and 6 months to ship, so you can't get it until the end of next year.
EV6 EV6 is also 3 months longer than last month, so you have to wait 1 year and 4 months, so those who plan to buy a car this year should take note.