November 4, 2005

 

Korea's fishery products annual 2005

 

 

In 2004, Korea was the fifth largest market for U.S. fishery products. Total imports of seafood increased to $2.3 billion, up 17 percent from 2003. In 2005, imports are expected to increase another 10 percent to $2.5 billion.

 

Imports from the U.S. were $136 million (79,000 MT) in 2004, providing the U.S. with only a 6.3 percent market share. Although imports from the U.S. decreased about 6 percent from 2003, they are expected to rebound by 10 percent in 2005 to $140 million.

 

Until 2000, Korea always enjoyed a trade surplus in seafood. However, since 2001 it has continued to suffer a growing trade deficit. Korea exported $1.28 billion of seafood in 2004 while it imported $2.26 billion in the same year, a large trade deficit of almost $1 billion and only 4 years from the time when Korea had a trade surplus in seafood.

 

This trend is only expected to increase in the future. Korea remains an important market for U.S. seafood suppliers, given Korea's high per capita consumption.

 

U.S. seafood is generally considered high quality but higher in price compared to competitors. Pollack surimi, monkfish, Alaskan Pollack roes, cod and hagfish are some of the major species that are imported to Korea from the United States. 

 

Korean fish production, at 2.52 million metric tons in 2004, increased slightly to over 2.49 million metric tons from 2003 mainly due to shallow-sea aquaculture.

 

It is expected that Korean domestic fishery production will not increase in 2006 due to the depletion of fish resources in adjacent waters and the enforcement of Exclusive Economic Zones by Korea's neighboring countries. 

 

Fishery workers in Korea, the number of fishing vessels and their capacity have also decreased continuously for the past 5 years. To cope with this situation, the Korean government has accelerated the downsizing of the Korean fishing fleet and plans to reduce it further over the next several years. 

 

Recognizing the potential economic impact of this step and the reduction in fishery agreements, the Korean government is undertaking an in-depth study on aquaculture and researching how to secure higher fish catch quotas in foreign waters. 

 

For the full USDA report, click here.