Pilot Introduction of Online Pork Auction... Full-Scale Implementation Next Year

Main screen inside the auction house (Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)

Online Auction System Bidding Screen (Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The government is set to fully launch an online pork auction business, using the Nonghyup Naju Livestock Products Market as a pilot site.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 4th that, together with the Livestock Products Quality Evaluation Service and Nonghyup Livestock Economic Holdings, it has started a pilot online pork auction at the Nonghyup Naju Livestock Products Market. The online auction provides objective information such as pork carcass videos and livestock product grading results online in wholesale markets, allowing wholesale market buyers, such as intermediate wholesalers, to participate and bid online.

The online livestock product auction was designated as a 'Korean New Deal' project in July 2020 to ensure stable supply of livestock products amid crises such as COVID-19 and African Swine Fever (ASF). The related project budget was 25.85 billion KRW in 2020 and 1.31 billion KRW last year.

In April last year, the Ministry selected the Nonghyup Naju Livestock Products Market as a pilot wholesale market, installed necessary facilities for the auction such as video recording equipment and automatic carcass yield grading devices, and established a non-face-to-face online transaction system.

This year, the Ministry plans to open applications and designate at least three additional pilot wholesale markets, and use the accumulated video information to create a database (DB). During the pilot operation period, feedback from intermediate wholesalers, trading participants, and wholesale markets will be collected, and existing on-site auctions will be conducted in parallel to reduce confusion ahead of the full introduction of online auctions next year.

Additionally, the Ministry will introduce partial meat trading and forward trading to respond to market and consumer-centered distribution trends such as diversification of meat consumption and expansion of the Home Meal Replacement (HMR) market. Forward trading refers to a transaction method where assets are bought and sold at an agreed price between parties at a future date. The scope of transactions will also be expanded to other livestock species such as beef.

Park Beom-su, Director of the Livestock Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "Once the online livestock product auction is on track, it is expected to contribute to revitalizing wholesale markets," adding, "We will continue to do our best to enable wholesale markets to lead distribution efficiency through the introduction of various transaction methods."

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