Im Jeong-bin of the Food Industry Policy Bureau at the 

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural 

Affairs (MAFRA)  (Photos: MAFRA)

The government‘s ambitious scheme to create a “Foodpolis” in an area of 2.32 million square meters in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do, as a national food cluster is proceeding as planned.

The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and Dir.-Gen. Im Jeong-bin of the Food Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) in which he spoke of his ministry’s policies including the national food cluster plan and others to nurture the Korean agriculture and food industry into a major export industry. 

Question: Will you tell our readers about the current status of the Korean food industry and its future prospects?

Answer: The value of the Korean food industry surged 9.4 percent in 2011 over the previous year to 144 trillion won — 70 trillion won in the food manufacturing sector and 74 trillion won in the food service sector. The food manufacturing segment grew an average of 8.3 percent during the period between 2006 and 2011, whereas the comparable figure for the food service segment was 8.2 percent. 

The number of workers in the food industry was tallied at 1.86 million in 2011, up 4.5 percent from 2010. A great majority of those at work in the industry were in the food service industry sector, with the number rising 6.1 percent from 1.61 million in 2010 to 1.86 million in 2011. 

Many global experts find it difficult to make predictions on the prospects of the food industry due to many external macroeconomic variables including foreign currency exchange rates, international crude oil prices, grain prices, and euro zone fiscal woes and other global economic vulnerabilities.   

The Korean food industry has shown signs of constant growth for the past decade, however. The global food industry is forecast to keep on growing for the time being thanks to the expansion of the Asian food market, including China. The Korean food industry strives to focus on developing new products and expanding exports. 

Q:  Will you speak about Korean food companies with more than 1 trillion won in sales?

A: The number of food makers who post more than 1 trillion won in annual sales has risen from 13 in 2010 to 18 in 2012. Korean food makers are showing signs of going bigger as they have seen their combined sales surge from 19.7 trillion won in 2010 to 30 trillion won in 2012. This is owed to Korean food makers’ strengthening of their competitive edge and the effects of the restructuring of the food industry, including M&As.

Among the Global 200 Leading Companies announced by the Forbes magazine in 2013 are eight Japanese food makers and nine Chinese companies. On the other hand, only KT&G and CJ Jeiljedang are on the list as Korean food makers. 

 “Foodpolis,” a national food cluster, will be built in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do, by 2015.

Q:  Will you elaborate on steps to nurture the food industry?

A:  The government is implementing diverse support steps to foster the food industry into a growth engine industry to lead the development of the Korean agriculture industry by building the food industry’s infrastructure and beefing up the connection between the food and the agriculture industries and to help enhance their global competitiveness. 

First of all, we’ve been continuing to expand R&D support to the food industry and foster expert manpower to enhance the industry’s competitive edge. The government’s R&D budget for the food industry surged from 18.3 billion won in 2010 to 29 billion won in 2011 and 31.3 billion won in 2013. 

Our ministry strives to boost Korean agriculture and food exports by ramping up their competitive edge through its support for exploring export items as well as public relations and marketing activities. In particular, we endeavor to improve the quality of traditional Korean products and wines, including kimchi and red pepper paste; upgrade their production facilities as part of efforts to provide support for their industrialization while striving to inherit and evolve their heritage; and support traditional food masters. The size of the Korean kimchi market increased from 1.074 trillion won in 2008 to 1.168 trillion won in 2011 while that of makkeolli (Korean rice wine) jumped from 169.9 billion won in 2008 to 509.7 billion won in 2011. 

The government is constructing a national food cluster to attract prominent foreign food makers and research institutes with the goal of making Korea a food market hub of Northeast Asia. 

Q:  Will you touch on the current status of the food industry’s exports and what steps are in store for your ministry to boost agricultural exports?

A: The Korean agriculture and food industries are forecast to see their exports rise by a petty margin due to the unpredictability of the global economic recovery and unfavorable export conditions, including the effects of Korea’s main export market, Japan, by the depreciation of the yen.

Korea saw its agriculture and food exports rise to $4.69 billion during the first 10 months of this year, up 1.4 percent over the January-October period of last year. By nations, Korea exported $1.04 billion worth of food products to Japan, a 9.9 percent plunge, followed by $830 million to ASEAN countries, a 21.1 percent jump, $790 million to China, a 6.9 percent increase, and $420 million to the United States, a 9.3 percent surge. By item, the nation exported $23 million worth of strawberries during the period, a 21.8 percent jump. 

In a bid to boost agriculture and food exports, our ministry is seeking to adopt aggressive export support policies in areas ranging from production to public relations and marketing activities. Farmers and companies of major agricultural exports are given their own identities to encourage the production of safer agricultural items, and our ministry plans to expand support for testing residual agricultural chemicals. K-Food Fairs, comprehensive exhibitions of Korean agriculture and food, will take place to make inroads into the Chinese economic sphere, ASEAN, and other promising foreign markets. Shops-in-shops will be operated temperately to explore new markets in Russia and Central and South America. Our ministry strives to ease non-tariff barriers by operating a team charged with coping with corporate grievances, inviting quarantine inspectors of importing countries, and holding bilateral talks on certification. 

Q: Will you explain the current progress of a national food cluster and future plans?

 A: The government gave a green light for the industrial complex site of the national food cluster, dubbed “Foodpolis” in June 2012, and the following month it established a national food cluster master plan.  

The government has so far signed MOUs on investments with 48 Korean and 33 foreign would-be tenant companies and research institutes as it has set up pavilions designed to attract investments at major food fairs and has hosted IR sessions. The signatory companies include CJ Jeiljedang and Dongwon F&B of Korea as well as Jalux of Japan and SunOpta of Canada. 

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place in the first half of next year to launch the construction of a national food industrial complex with completion slated for 2015, and such support facilities as R&D centers on efficacy evaluation and quality/safety will also be set up to global standards by then. 

The government has worked out a package of comprehensive support steps, including R&D, manpower, and funds, and it plans to establish a business-friendly environment ranging from R&D, production, and exporting.  

Korea is at the center of a huge Northeast Asian market with a population of 1.5 billion, so the national food cluster is expected to emerge as a global food industry hub. European and American companies see Korea, a westernized and industrialized nation, as business-friendly. The nation has a strong point of having no cultural clashes with a harmony of Western and Oriental culture. 

Iksan, the site of the national food cluster, is in close proximity to Gunsan Airport/Port, Saemangeum New Port, and Incheon International Airport as well as some 50 cities each with a population of 1 million in Japan and China within a two-hour flight. 

Tenants of the national food cluster will have more favorable exporting conditions than any country of Northeast Asia as they are entitled to tariff benefits thanks to Korea’s signing of FTAs with the United States and the EU. 

Q: Will you tell us about the current status of exhibitions designed to boost exports and your future plans?

A:  Our ministry has been hosting K-Food Fairs to expedite foreign consumers’ demand for Korean agriculture and food products, explore foreign buyers, and participate in overseas food fairs designed to make an aggressive pitch for them. 

K-Food Fairs, different from the conventional exhibitions, is a new concept of a fair combining exporting consultation meetings and consumer experience events in target markets. The fairs have taken place in such countries as China, Vietnam, and the United States so far this year, resulting in holding higher trade negotiations meetings and greatly contributing to creating a consumers’ base for Korean agricultural products and food. For instance, a K-Food Fair was held in Shanghai in June, resulting in $70 million worth of trade negotiations and attracting some 30,000 spectators. Our ministry provides support to Korean exporters’ participation in major international food fairs on a total of 20 occasions yearly, each with 10 to 80 companies in attendance.