SEOUL: Korea should focus more on exporting value-added, processed food products to Japan, China and elsewhere to nurture its agriculture and fisheries industries as a new growth engine, according to the head of the state-run food export promotion agency.
Kim Jae-soo, CEO of Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp. (aT), said that in order to increase agricultural and food product shipments to China, Korea should offer larger incentives to Chinese trading firms and retailers to motivate them to deal in Korean products.
“It is difficult to export fresh agricultural and fisheries products to China and other countries in a sustainable manner due to frequent output changes based on weather and other conditions,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times on April 15. “So Korea should make more effort to process fresh items and produce value-added food products. This is the how we can bolster outbound shipments and earn more hard currency.” To boost food exports to China, Kim said the country should create a market structure under which Chinese traders and retailers can generate profits from Korean agricultural and food items.
“In addition to launching aggressive promotional campaigns and offering subsidies to food exporters, the government also needs to provide financial incentives to Chinese merchants handling local food products,” the CEO said. “If they can make money from Korean products, they will become more eager to buy from Korea and market them to Chinese consumers, which will increase Korea’s shipments to the world’s second-largest economy.”
Kim said aT will do its part to increase Korea’s food exports to $8.1 billion this year, up from $6.11 billion in 2015, stressing that it has become crucial for the country to sell more fresh goods and processed food items in foreign markets, given the forecast decline of industrial exports in 2016.
“This ambitious goal of raising food exports to $8.1 billion reflects the government’s strong will, despite the continued global economic slump and other unfavorable market conditions,” he said. “We will continue to focus more on helping to increase shipments to China, while maintaining a strong presence in Japan, Korea’s single largest food export market.”
Kim said Korea should eye the growing number of increasingly wealthy Chinese consumers, many of whom regard Korean products as safer and more sanitary. The country aims to bolster its agricultural and food exports to China by 32 percent this year to $1.4 billion.
“To improve overseas logistics infrastructure, we have opened warehouses in Qingdao and other Chinese cities. We will build more in China and Southeast Asia, making it more convenient and cheaper for domestic firms to sell their food items there,” the CEO said. He then stressed the importance of increasing food shipments to Japan, saying Korea should market ginseng and other premium agricultural and food items that have health benefits.
“Our food exports to Japan have declined over the past few years. But we cannot give up the Japanese market. Korea has to do whatever it takes to reclaim its lost market share,” Kim said. “We should target the growing number of senior citizens in Japan who are conscious about their health. We should develop and sell value-added, functional health foods to Japanese consumers.”
In March, the CEO went to Japan to attend Foodex Japan 2016, the country’s largest food fair. Among others, Kim signed an agreement with Ryouhei Ukai, president of the Japan Food Hygiene Association, to boost cooperation on food hygiene and quarantine. aT has also reached an agreement with Japanese retailers and food industry associations to have them buy more Korean food items and hire Korean university students as interns.
