ID :
209877
Wed, 09/28/2011 - 08:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/209877
The shortlink copeid
Seoul seeks to triple food exports by 2017
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea hopes to more than triple its food and agricultural exports to US$20 billion by 2017 through increased government spending on research and more aid to private companies, the farm ministry said Wednesday.
The measures announced by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are also expected to enlarge the value of the country's food industry from 131 trillion won ($111.5 billion) in 2009 to 245 trillion won in 2017.
The move comes with the global food market valued at $4.9 trillion, nearly 10 times that of the steel industry at $500 billion. South Korea's share of that market, however, remains dismal.
The country's food and agricultural exports reached a new annual high of $5.9 billion last year, but that was only a little more than 1 percent of the country's total exports of $467.4 billion in 2010.
"The global food market is expected to reach $6.4 trillion in 2020 due to an increase in global population and growth of newly emerging countries," the ministry said in a press release.
The "Food Industry Development Plan" will also increase the number of people employed in the food industry from 1.76 million in 2009 to 2 million in 2017, it added.
To achieve its ambitious goals, the ministry will increase government funding for research and development within the food industry from 104 billion won in 2009 to 400 billion won in 2017. It said this will bring the country's food-related technologies from less than 65 percent of those of advanced countries to closer to 85 percent.
The government will also increase its seed funding for private companies from 25 billion won in 2010 to 400 billion won in 2017. This, along with a new one-stop consulting service for food producers and exporters, will help raise the number of companies with over 10 billion won in annual sales from 946 in 2010 to over 2,000 in 2017, it said.
In total, the government will spend 6.9 trillion won until 2017 to help develop the country's food industry, according to Agriculture Minister Suh Kyu-yong.
"The ministry will focus all its policy efforts to help transform the food industry into a new growth engine," he told a press briefing.
To further bolster exports, the government will work to diversify the country's export market while also seeking alliances with major retailers in export countries to enable large, direct shipments.
The government will also work to double the number of overseas Korean restaurants from its current level to 20,000 in 2017, a move that will help promote traditional Korean dishes, as well as ingredients originating from Korea.
The country's food exports jumped over 22 percent last year from $4.8 billion in 2009 to $5.88 billion. This year, the country has already shipped over $4.6 billion worth of food and agricultural products as of the end of August, up 32 percent from the same period last year, according to the agriculture minister.
"Our exports are growing by more than 20 percent every year on average, and with adequate government support and diversification of our export markets, we are confident they will reach $20 billion and even beyond that," he said.
Suh said free trade agreements (FTAs) will also help create new opportunities for South Korean exports.
"It is true the agriculture industry is one area that will take the most negative impact from an FTA, but efforts to minimize the impact should focus on strengthening our farmers' own competitiveness rather than compensating their losses," he told the press briefing.
"Opening of our market can be a crisis but also an opportunity as it means opening of foreign markets to us."
SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea hopes to more than triple its food and agricultural exports to US$20 billion by 2017 through increased government spending on research and more aid to private companies, the farm ministry said Wednesday.
The measures announced by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are also expected to enlarge the value of the country's food industry from 131 trillion won ($111.5 billion) in 2009 to 245 trillion won in 2017.
The move comes with the global food market valued at $4.9 trillion, nearly 10 times that of the steel industry at $500 billion. South Korea's share of that market, however, remains dismal.
The country's food and agricultural exports reached a new annual high of $5.9 billion last year, but that was only a little more than 1 percent of the country's total exports of $467.4 billion in 2010.
"The global food market is expected to reach $6.4 trillion in 2020 due to an increase in global population and growth of newly emerging countries," the ministry said in a press release.
The "Food Industry Development Plan" will also increase the number of people employed in the food industry from 1.76 million in 2009 to 2 million in 2017, it added.
To achieve its ambitious goals, the ministry will increase government funding for research and development within the food industry from 104 billion won in 2009 to 400 billion won in 2017. It said this will bring the country's food-related technologies from less than 65 percent of those of advanced countries to closer to 85 percent.
The government will also increase its seed funding for private companies from 25 billion won in 2010 to 400 billion won in 2017. This, along with a new one-stop consulting service for food producers and exporters, will help raise the number of companies with over 10 billion won in annual sales from 946 in 2010 to over 2,000 in 2017, it said.
In total, the government will spend 6.9 trillion won until 2017 to help develop the country's food industry, according to Agriculture Minister Suh Kyu-yong.
"The ministry will focus all its policy efforts to help transform the food industry into a new growth engine," he told a press briefing.
To further bolster exports, the government will work to diversify the country's export market while also seeking alliances with major retailers in export countries to enable large, direct shipments.
The government will also work to double the number of overseas Korean restaurants from its current level to 20,000 in 2017, a move that will help promote traditional Korean dishes, as well as ingredients originating from Korea.
The country's food exports jumped over 22 percent last year from $4.8 billion in 2009 to $5.88 billion. This year, the country has already shipped over $4.6 billion worth of food and agricultural products as of the end of August, up 32 percent from the same period last year, according to the agriculture minister.
"Our exports are growing by more than 20 percent every year on average, and with adequate government support and diversification of our export markets, we are confident they will reach $20 billion and even beyond that," he said.
Suh said free trade agreements (FTAs) will also help create new opportunities for South Korean exports.
"It is true the agriculture industry is one area that will take the most negative impact from an FTA, but efforts to minimize the impact should focus on strengthening our farmers' own competitiveness rather than compensating their losses," he told the press briefing.
"Opening of our market can be a crisis but also an opportunity as it means opening of foreign markets to us."
