These photo shows home meal replacement (HMR) products displayed at a discount store chain outlet in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 14 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s exports of farm and fisheries products rose more than 16 percent in the first five months of this year on brisk overseas demand for Korean food, data showed Tuesday.
Outbound shipments of agricultural and fisheries goods came to US$5.19 billion in the January-May period, up 16.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp.
The figure represents the largest-ever tally for the first five months of any year.
During the five-month period, overseas shipments declined to $3.84 billion in 2020, the first year of a COVID-19 outbreak in the world, from $3.94 billion a year earlier before rising to $4.45 billion in 2021.
The state company said resilient exports for the first five months were led by rice-processed food, red pepper paste and dried seaweed.
Dried seaweed, called “gim” in Korean, is usually roasted with sesame oil and fine salt and served as a side dish in Korean dining. Snacks made of gim have gained popularity among foreigners in recent years.
Exports to the European Union and the United States climbed 35.8 percent and 17.2 percent, respectively, in the five-month period, with those to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) swelling 15.1 percent.
The corporation said it will ramp up efforts to export more agricultural and fisheries products to various parts of the world in the second half of the year.
(Yonhap)
