August 9, 2010

South Korea's 2009 agri output hits record high

South Korea's agriculture and forestry sector output rose to a record KRW42.99 trillion (US$37.05 billion) last year thanks to gains in fruits, vegetables and meat products, a government report said Friday (Aug 6).

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report said the total is the largest reached since the government started compiling national figures in 1961, and represents a 8.4% on-year gain from the KRW39.66 trillion (US$34.19 billion) tallied in the previous year.

It said agriculture that includes livestock reached KRW41.36 trillion (US$35.65 billion), or 96.2%, of overall production, with forestry making up KRW1.63 trillion (US$1.40 billion).

Last year's gains were fuelled by beef, pork and poultry production that posted gains of 21.3% compared to 2008, the report said. It said that fruit and vegetable output also grew 17.1% and 4.7%, respectively, in terms of value that offset the 7.0% decline in general grain production.

"The sharp gains in meats and fruits reflect ongoing trends in the national diet with people eating more protein-rich food and seeking more variety while cutting back on rice consumption," the ministry said.

Despite the overall drop in prices, grain production was the largest single contributor in the farming sector with output hitting KRW8.68 trillion (US$7.48 billion), followed by pork and beef at KRW5.47 trillion (US4.72 billion) and KRW3.80 (US$3.28 billion) each.

Milk output totalled KRW2.02 trillion (US$1.74 billion) with chicken making up KRW1.73 trillion (US$1.49 billion).

The report said combined grain, vegetable and fruit production accounted for 57.9% of all agricultural output in the cited year, down 4.8 percentage points from 2008. Meat production rose by 4.0 percentage points to account for 38.3% of all farm output.