South Korean Food Exports Hit Record High, But Can't Hide Decline in Agricultural Products, 8.7% Growth with 0.6% Concern!

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Food announced on the 3rd that according to preliminary statistics, as overseas consumers continue to pay more attention to Korean food (K-FOOD), the export volume of agri-food in the period from January to August this year increased by 8.7%, reaching a record high of 6.48 billion dollars. In terms of specific categories, exports of snacks, beverages, instant noodles and rice processed foods all reached a record high. Thanks to the popularity of spicy instant noodles, exports of instant noodles increased 31.7 percent year-on-year to 800 million U.S. dollars (about 1.1 trillion won), two months ahead of schedule. Snack goods exports increased 15.4% to $494 million.

Exports of beverages rose 13.6 percent to $449 million. The biggest increase in exports was in rice-processed foods such as ready-to-eat rice and frozen nori rice, which rose as much as 41.7 percent to $190 million. Exports fell 0.6 percent to $968 million due to the extreme weather, which reduced production of fresh agricultural products such as pears and grapes. By market, exports to the United States increased 22.8 percent to $1.023 billion, with particularly significant increases in instant noodles and rice processed foods; Exports to China rose 5.3 percent to $959 million; Exports to the European region increased 30.5 percent to $459 million.