Gokseong Cherry Challenges U.S. Cherries... Excellent Freshness and Safety

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Since the Korea-US FTA was signed, sales of US cherries have expanded mainly through large marts and online markets, and South Korea has been confirmed as the second largest importer of US cherries.

According to Gokseong County on the 29th, statistics on the rising preference of Koreans for cherries show that domestic cherry imports increased 16-fold from 987 tons in 2005 to 15,826 tons in 2019.

Internationally, the popularity of cherries is also increasing. According to data presented at the 2016 International Cherry Symposium, global cherry production has continuously grown from 1.7 million tons in 2000 to 2.7 million tons in 2015. The industry believes that the functionality, taste, and convenience of cherries are driving the expansion of consumption.

On the other hand, the domestic cherry industry is so vulnerable that cherries are excluded from the Statistics Korea agricultural crop cultivation survey items. Some experts estimate that domestically produced cherries are grown on about 600 hectares nationwide.

According to this, the largest domestic cherry production area is Gyeongju City, producing about 200 tons annually on 60 hectares, which accounts for approximately 70% of domestic production. Gokseong, Daegu, and Changnyeong follow as centers of domestic cherry cultivation after Gyeongju.

Among them, Gokseong County has rapidly grown as a domestic cherry production area by establishing 30 hectares of cultivation area through active cherry promotion policies over the past four years. This year also saw the first harvest. The plan is to expand the cultivation area to 60 hectares by 2022 and achieve a production volume of 180 tons and production value of 3.6 billion won by 2025 as the first goal.

Gokseong County’s entry into the cherry industry began with County Governor Yoo Geun-gi, who proposed bold promotion policies after seeing the growth potential of the domestic cherry industry. It is still in the introduction stage, with a long way to go in production, distribution, and sixth industrialization.

However, local governments, agricultural cooperatives, and farmers are working together to present high-quality cherries so that cherries can establish themselves as a new regional income fruit.

Currently, Gokseong County is focusing most on establishing a competitive production base. Because cherry cultivation is not easy, more than 10 training sessions and field visits are held annually for farmers.

Although there is still a wide gap in cultivation technology levels among farms, the plan is to strengthen cultivation capabilities and raise the overall standard.

Additionally, to systematically manage selection standards and product packaging, this year Gokseong Nonghyup APC collaborated to introduce a joint farming system. Fortunately, the response in the consumer market has been positive.

Several companies have proposed supplying Gokseong cherries, but production volume is still insufficient. Going forward, they plan to release higher quality cherries to the market by reflecting the opinions of consumers and distribution stakeholders.

Gokseong County believes that domestic cherries have sufficient market competitiveness in terms of freshness and safety. In the case of cherries, the shelf life is relatively short, and US cherries take at least 3 to 4 days to arrive in South Korea.

In fact, in Japan, while total cherry consumption has not decreased, imports of US cherries have declined. This is attributed to high satisfaction with the quality of domestic cherries in terms of safety and freshness.

A county official said, “There is no disagreement among experts that cherry consumption by our people will expand in the era of 30,000-dollar national income. It is difficult to predict how much domestic cherries will replace US cherries, but if they have safety and good quality, they will be chosen by domestic consumers.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.