[2021 Budget] Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Assembles Largest Ever Budget... "Focus on Marine New Deal and New Industry Promotion"

2021 Budget Proposal

Allocated 6.144 trillion KRW... 9.7% Increase YoY
Highest Growth Rate Since the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Reestablishment in 2013

Full-scale Promotion of Korean New Deal Including Digital Transformation of Maritime and Port Infrastructure and Smart Maritime Logistics System Construction
515 billion KRW for 'Fisheries Public Interest Direct Payment System' and 41 billion KRW for 'Support to Promote Seafood Consumption'
Additional 30 billion KRW Investment in Korea Maritime Promotion Corporation... Strengthening Support for Shipping Companies Affected by COVID-19
Fostering Marine Bio Industry and Transitioning Fisheries Distribution Structure to Non-face-to-face

Budget trends of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries from 2016 to 2021.

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) has prepared the 2021 budget plan exceeding 6 trillion KRW for the first time. Through this, it will actively promote the Korean New Deal in the maritime and fisheries sectors, including digital transformation and eco-friendly ship markets, while also strengthening support to overcome the COVID-19 crisis by introducing the fisheries public interest direct payment system and making additional investments in the Korea Maritime Promotion Corporation.

On the 1st, MOF announced that the 2021 budget plan (including funds) was set at 6.144 trillion KRW, an increase of 541.1 billion KRW (9.7%) compared to the 2020 original budget of 5.6029 trillion KRW.

This is the largest scale ever, surpassing 6 trillion KRW for the first time. The budget growth rate (9.7%) is about 1.2 percentage points higher than the overall government budget growth rate of 8.5%, marking the highest growth rate since the reestablishment of MOF in 2013.

MOF focused the 2021 budget on ▲ full-scale promotion of the Korean New Deal ▲ strengthening the backbone, safety, and welfare of the maritime and fisheries industry ▲ revitalizing coastal and fishing village areas ▲ and establishing a sustainable future growth foundation.

First, MOF plans to fully promote the Korean New Deal in the maritime and fisheries sectors starting next year. To this end, the budget for digital transformation of maritime and port infrastructure will increase by 8.9 billion KRW from 5.9 billion KRW this year to 14.8 billion KRW next year. Five billion KRW will be invested in planning to establish an IoT-based digital management system for underground facilities safety management at 29 trade ports, and 400 million KRW (including design costs) will be allocated to create a remote safety management system using intelligent CCTV at national fishing ports in urban areas. Furthermore, to actively promote smart ports, a preliminary feasibility study will be conducted next year to establish a smart port testbed with four berths, and the budget for developing 13 core technologies such as intelligent navigation for commercialization of autonomous ships will increase from 5.9 billion KRW to 13.9 billion KRW to ensure smooth progress. A new budget of 4.5 billion KRW is allocated for building a smart maritime logistics system, and the budget for establishing a smart eco-friendly aquaculture base will increase by 6.4 billion KRW from 15.5 billion KRW to 21.9 billion KRW. In particular, a total of 15 government vessels will be constructed as eco-friendly ships (93 billion KRW), and the budget to create an eco-friendly ship market, including enhanced incentives to promote the introduction of eco-friendly ships by private shipping companies, is set at 129.9 billion KRW, 114.3 billion KRW more than this year.

In response to economic crises such as the global pandemic, MOF will complement the competitiveness of traditional maritime and fisheries industries and improve safety and welfare conditions for workers. A budget of 51.5 billion KRW will be used to introduce the fisheries public interest direct payment system from next year, and the budget for seafood consumption promotion events, currently underway through the third supplementary budget this year to support fishermen suffering from reduced seafood consumption, will be expanded to 41 billion KRW.

To respond to the decrease in maritime cargo volume and liquidity shortages of small and medium shipping companies due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, an additional investment of 30 billion KRW will be made to the Korea Maritime Promotion Corporation, a dedicated financial institution supporting the shipping industry, to increase its capital. This will expand support for small and medium shipping companies. The budget for establishing safety and welfare foundations for maritime and fisheries workers will also increase by 25 billion KRW to 39.6 billion KRW.

To support economic recovery in coastal and fishing village areas affected by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, investments will be expanded to improve social overhead capital (SOC) for ports, fishing villages, and marine tourism, as well as transportation and logistics conditions in coastal and urban areas. The 'Fishing Village New Deal 300 Project,' which aims to improve living conditions in fishing villages, will add 60 new sites, and investments (10.3 billion KRW) will be made in 12 new fishing ports including Chopyeong Port in Jeonnam Province. Construction of fishing port facilities such as the under-construction Gangwon Fisheries Port will proceed without delay. To create safe ports against disasters such as typhoons, heavy rains, and earthquakes, investment in port safety infrastructure will increase from about 280.1 billion KRW this year to 315.1 billion KRW.

The budget for establishing a sustainable future growth foundation, including marine bio (63.4 billion KRW), has also been expanded. Additionally, a new project called 'Maritime and Fisheries Startup Company Scale-up' (5.6 billion KRW) will be launched to support startup companies that have succeeded in attracting private investment and venture companies with R&D achievements to commercialize related technologies and grow.

MOF will provide 16.9 billion KRW to support the transformation of the fisheries distribution and export-related industry structure to a non-face-to-face and online-centered system. It will initiate the development of fresh seafood distribution technology (7.6 billion KRW) and feasibility studies for establishing an innovative fresh seafood distribution system (400 million KRW), and expand production base distribution centers (100 million KRW) and clean auction markets (100 million KRW). To strengthen non-face-to-face export support, year-round export consultations and contracts will be supported through an online system, and a dedicated sales section will be operated in overseas online malls (1.1 billion KRW). The scale of the export voucher-type support project for globalization of seafood export companies will also be expanded from 5.5 billion KRW to 7.6 billion KRW.

Moon Sung-hyuk, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "The 2021 budget plan was prepared focusing on expanding support for the maritime and fisheries industry and workers affected by COVID-19 and revitalizing coastal and fishing village areas. We will focus on promoting Korean New Deal projects to create future growth engines in the maritime and fisheries sectors and actively foster new maritime and fisheries industries such as the marine bio industry."

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