Precious Overseas ‘Hongseong Strawberry’... Love Calls from Canada and Dubai

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Hongseong strawberries from Chungnam are being highly valued overseas and are playing a key role in boosting local exports.

According to Chungnam Province on the 15th, the Hongseong Arihyang Agricultural Cooperative exported strawberries worth $100,000 overseas in the past month. This figure more than doubles last year’s total export amount of $43,000, and the province expects that by around April, when strawberry production ends, the cooperative alone will have exported strawberries worth over $300,000.

The cooperative operates with the participation of five farms located in Hwayang-ri, Geumma-myeon, Hongseong-gun, Chungnam. The cooperative began exporting strawberries in 2019, with export revenue around $25,000 that year. However, since last year, export volumes have steadily increased, establishing the cooperative as a new model for farm income generation in the post-COVID-19 era.

In particular, the cooperative’s export achievements are significant because they were attained despite the overall low export volume of strawberry farms across Chungnam. In fact, last year, the general strawberry export revenue across Chungnam was $1,702,000, a sharp decline of 42.3% compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, the province analyzes that the cooperative played a key export role by successfully cultivating and producing high-quality strawberry varieties with excellent technology. The strawberries produced by the cooperative are of the Arihyang and Seolhyang varieties, known for their rich sweet and sour taste, large fruit size bigger than a child’s fist, and an annual production volume of 80 to 90 tons.

Above all, Arihyang strawberries are praised for their firm fruit and long shelf life, making them suitable for export. However, the province explains that both Arihyang and Seolhyang strawberries are vulnerable to powdery mildew and gray mold, making cultivation difficult for farms other than the cooperative.

The cooperative’s main export countries include Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the United States, and Thailand. Among these, in Hong Kong, large-sized 1-box (1.2 kg) strawberries are traded at around 100,000 won in high-end markets such as department stores, with orders flooding in at about 1 to 2 tons per week, making it difficult to meet supply demands.

Additionally, recently, there have been love calls from Canada and Dubai. In fact, the province recently completed consultations with buyers in Dubai and expects that the cooperative’s strawberries will be exported there either this month or next.

As local strawberries gain popularity overseas, the province plans to capitalize on this momentum by supporting the organization of Arihyang farms in the Hongseong area, providing export-dedicated packaging for Arihyang strawberries, promoting them in large Southeast Asian retail stores, and supporting logistics costs to expand exports of local agricultural products.

A provincial official stated, “The cooperative’s strawberry export case is meaningful as it offers a glimpse of the potential success of local agricultural products entering overseas markets through high-quality specialization,” adding, “The province plans to prepare and implement various support measures to strengthen the export competitiveness of local farms and expand overseas sales channels.”

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