Growing the Fisheries Food Industry to 13.8 Trillion KRW by 2025... Five-Year National Plan Announced

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Announces '1st Basic Plan for Fisheries Food Industry Development'
Targeting 50,000 Jobs and 74.4kg Per Capita Consumption in Fisheries Food Industry by 2025
Supporting Product Development Including Ready-to-Eat Meals to Match Non-Face-to-Face Consumption Trends
Expanding 'K-Seafood' Exports... Aiming for 'K-FISH' Exclusive Shop Sales by 2025
Expanding to 5 Dedicated Korean Seafood Sales Channels on Amazon and Others

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced a national plan to expand the size of the seafood food industry by 2.5 trillion KRW over the next five years. Employment is planned to increase by 12,000 people, and per capita seafood consumption by 6.6 kg. Considering the increase in non-face-to-face consumption due to the spread of COVID-19, the focus will be on supporting the development of convenience foods and increasing added value.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 29th that it will establish and announce the "1st Basic Plan for the Development of the Seafood Food Industry" on the 30th. Until now, seafood food was treated as part of agricultural and food products under the "Food Industry Promotion Act," but on February 18 last year, the "Seafood Food Industry Act" was enacted to manage seafood food separately. According to this law and its enforcement decree, a national plan including mid- to long-term policy tasks has been prepared this time.

The goal is to grow the seafood food industry from 11.3 trillion KRW to 13.8 trillion KRW by 2025 and increase employment from 38,000 to 50,000 people. Through this, the per capita seafood consumption will increase from 67.8 kg to 74.4 kg, and exports will expand from 2.32 billion USD to 3 billion USD. The detailed implementation plans include ▲strengthening the capabilities of seafood food companies ▲developing consumer-tailored seafood food ▲improving seafood food quality and expanding consumption ▲advancing into overseas markets and linking upstream and downstream industries.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries decided to focus on increasing the added value of seafood food considering the reality of increased non-face-to-face consumption. Efforts will be concentrated on developing future-type home meal replacement (HMR) foods and convenience foods for smart appliances. Various product developments will be supported, considering the elderly (medifood), infants and young children (essential nutrients), as well as pets (pet food). In addition, to prepare for depletion of marine resources, alternative seafood products such as artificial tuna and shrimp using seaweed extracts will be developed.

Furthermore, export promotion strategies will be implemented, such as establishing cold chain distribution networks in inland areas like China and ASEAN, and building local logistics bases in the Middle East and South America. Online export support will be actively promoted in line with the non-face-to-face consumption trend. To this end, the functions of the Korean seafood (K-Seafood) online export support platform (B2B) will be gradually enhanced. Through marketing linked with Hallyu content, sales bases will be expanded from "this year's dining franchise → 2023 global chain hotels → 2025 'K-FISH' exclusive shops." Five dedicated Korean seafood sales channels will be expanded and opened on overseas online malls such as Amazon to support small and medium export companies' entry into the non-face-to-face consumption market and secure sales channels.

Additionally, ▲from this year, voucher support of 100 million to 270 million KRW annually will be provided to excellent export companies ▲by 2022, seafood food clusters in Jeonnam and Busan areas will be established and six regional base complexes completed ▲certification systems such as quality certification and geographical indication will be unified to enhance recognition.

Kim Jun-seok, Director of Fisheries Policy at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "As this is the first basic plan established after the enactment of the 'Seafood Food Industry Act,' we will actively promote policy tasks to foster the seafood food industry," adding, "We will strive to ensure that the public can enjoy healthy and high-quality seafood food."

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