South Korea’s seafood exports reach $3 billion. Seaweed, tuna and oysters led the way in seafood exports for South Korea last year. Seaweed exports, a typical export product that ranks first in terms of export share to the global market, topped 1 trillion won for the first time as of the end of December, and the export volume stood at 1.02 trillion won at the end of last year. Tuna, the main product of deep-sea fisheries, is exported raw to Japan, Thailand, etc., with exports last year amounting to US$560 million, and domestic oyster exports to Japan, the United States, etc., were at 8% higher than the previous year
In order to expand seafood exports, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has been actively supporting exporting companies since the beginning of last year by forming the “Seafood Export Source Group” together with the public, government and research institutions. The ministry operates export sites throughout the country, including Busan, Incheon, Jeonnam and South Chungcheong, and makes every effort to promote exports by inspecting and holding export status review meetings with industry representatives.
Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyun said:
“Despite difficult export conditions, we were able to achieve an export volume of $3 billion for two consecutive years thanks to the continuous efforts of the entire fishing industry, including companies and manufacturers. Exports will continue to grow this year thanks to the expansion of the support budget.”
This year’s seafood export support budget was confirmed at 51.521 billion won, up 8.659 billion won from the previous year. The comprehensive seafood marketing support project is 9.39 billion won, the export voucher support project is 7.683 billion won, and the Foreign Trade Support Centre operation is 5.962 billion won.