South Korean '09 farm exports rise nearly 7%

Despite the worldwide economic slump that sapped consumer demand, South Korea's farm exports increased 6.9% on-year in 2009.

According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MFAFF), outbound shipments reached US$4.80 billion, up from US$4.49 billion tallied for 2008.

The gain represents a better showing than the 13.8% annual drop in South Korea's overall export volume for the entire year, but falls short of the original government target of US$5.30 billion for farm products, MFAFF said.

The ministry added that, in terms of volume, exports of locally grown farm products, fisheries goods and processed food jumped 19.1% from a year earlier to over 2.63 million tonnes.

Fresh farm products and processed food exports rose 9.5% and 7.8%, respectively, last year, with numbers for fisheries goods up 4.3%.

Meanwhile, shipments to Japan, the largest consumer of South Korean food products, rose 9.9%, while those to Taiwan, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Hong Kong all made gains between 13% and 23%.

For this year, the government hopes to export US$6.40 billion worth of farm goods for a gain of 33% from 2009. The country is aiming to push up food exports to US$10 billion by 2012.