Bed bug scare, search for more powerful insecticides… Overseas direct sales of insecticides ‘surge’.

Bedbug extermination in a small room village. Yonhap News

As the ‘bedbug horror’ continues for a month, online shopping and overseas direct purchases for insecticides and other extermination products have surged.

According to the price comparison site Danawa, on the 22nd, online shopping sales of insecticides and bug repellents from the 1st to 19th of this month increased by 110% compared to the same period last year.

The sales counted are the transactions made at the online shopping mall after searching for the product on Danawa.

During the same period, steam cleaner sales increased by 38%, and bedding cleaner sales increased by 83% compared to last year.

During this period, online shopping for insecticides and bug repellents through the online lowest-price comparison site Enoori also surged by 196% compared to last year. Steam cleaners increased by 116%, and bedding cleaners increased by 201%.

Since the news of bedbug infestations in Europe last month, there have been reports of bedbug appearances nationwide, starting from a sauna in Incheon and a dormitory at Keimyung University in Daegu in the middle of the same month.

Since then, the government has strengthened pest control in public transportation and accommodation facilities. In addition, sales of household insecticides and vacuum cleaners have also increased.

This is interpreted due to the National Institute of Environmental Research of the Ministry of Environment and others advising that physical pest control such as steam, high-temperature treatment, and vacuum cleaner suction should be prioritized when bedbugs are discovered, and insecticides should be used minimally where necessary.

Amid this, as bedbugs showed resistance to the previously used pyrethroid insecticides, consumers have even turned to ‘overseas direct purchases’ to find stronger extermination products.

Consumers are looking for ‘Raid Max Bed Bug Extermination’ spray products containing 0.05% imidacloprid to kill the pyrethroid-resistant bedbug strains. This product sold over 350 units in just ten days after it started selling on a direct purchase shopping mall.