Retailers enjoy soaring pesticide sales amid growing bedbug scare

Dongsung Biopharm's Biokill and Kyung Nam Pharm's Mosfense are some of the country's most popular consumer products now as bedbug fears have spread nationwide. Screenshots from Gmarket

A bedbug scare is shaking consumer markets as people scramble to look for protection from the pestilence that was believed to have disappeared from the country half a century ago, according to retail industry officials, Friday.

Its sudden emergence and impact on public health is compared by some observers to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when people rushed to pharmacies for masks and hospitals were crowded with visitors seeking tests.

With reports of bug sightings and skin-bitten infection cases mounting nationwide, one of the most popular products in the country right now is bedbug pesticides. Online shopping platform Gmarket said it has seen a rise in sales of products related to deterring bedbugs during the first week of November.

"Pesticides available on our channel saw their sales jump by 852 percent compared to the same period last year," said an official from the company's marketing and brand communication team. "Bedsheet and mattress vacuum cleaners went up 740 percent, anti-bedbug bed covers up 110 percent, high-temperature steamers up 65 percent and air pressure sprayers up 22 percent."

Pharmaceutical companies saw the same boon. Dongsung Biopharm's pesticide, which is known to be effective in driving away the bugs sold over 40,000 last month alone. Another similar product by Kyung Nam Pharm saw its October sales triple compared to last year. Some said the products were already sold out at local pharmacies.

Officials from Yongsan District Office's public health department spray anti-bedbug pesticides at a one-room residence in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

When some online posts claimed that diatomite powders were effective against the bugs, their sales went up five times more than usual, according to reports. But experts said the rumors were scientifically unproven and are not recommended as the powder if inhaled, could cause silicosis in the lungs.

However, tourism-related industries have taken a hit due to the bugs. This has been fueled by public beliefs that bedbugs came from outside the country, discouraging people from taking trips overseas. Hotels and lodging businesses are suffering business losses as people increasingly distance themselves.

The hotel industry is taking the bedbug risk seriously as they hire professional fumigators and promote their guidelines for keeping their rooms clean.

As the public scare is on the rise, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has introduced a set of DIY measures against bedbugs like spraying high-temperature steam into nooks and crannies behind furniture and on walls, vacuuming and setting dryer temperatures to 60 degrees Celsius or higher for 30 minutes.