Korea Forest Service: "Last Year's Forest Product Exports Amounted to '45,000 Dollars'... Targeting 50,000 Dollars This Year"

On the 2nd, Nam Taeheon, Deputy Director of the Korea Forest Service, introduced the status of last year's forest product export value and the plan to achieve 500 million dollars in exports this year at the Government Complex Daejeon. Photo by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Last year, the export value of forest products reached $450 million, an 18.6% increase compared to the previous year. The Korea Forest Service has set this year's export target for forest products at $500 million and plans to provide full support to achieve this goal.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 2nd, the export value of forest products increased by $70 million from $380 million in 2019 to $450 million last year.

The significant growth in forest product exports despite the spread of COVID-19 is attributed to the rising interest in health foods, which has increased demand for clean forest products.

Last year, the export values by product category increased compared to the previous year in the order of wood products (23.5%), stone products (19.9%), and short-term forest products (7.1%).

Among these, health food clean forest products such as chestnuts, wild greens, wild ginseng, and matsutake mushrooms showed remarkable growth. In fact, last year, chestnut exports totaled $17 million, a 29.4% increase from the previous year; wild greens reached $2 million, up 43.4%; wild ginseng was $880,000, up 101.6%; and matsutake mushrooms were $660,000, a 67.6% increase compared to the previous year.

With the increase in online orders, the demand for raw materials for packaging boxes has grown, leading to a noticeable rise in exports of wood products such as cardboard and pulp. Last year, cardboard exports reached $100 million, up 63.1% from the previous year, and pulp exports were $27 million, a 12.4% increase.

Building on this momentum, the Korea Forest Service plans to strengthen non-face-to-face and online marketing this year to raise forest product exports to $500 million.

In advanced markets such as the United States, China, and Japan, support will be provided to enable Korean forest products to be listed on major online malls like Amazon. In regions with strong Hallyu influence such as the New Southern, New Northern, and European markets, efforts will continue to pioneer emerging markets with tailored strategies according to regional conditions, as envisioned by the Korea Forest Service.

In particular, promising products with high growth potential such as wild greens and dried persimmons will be actively identified and closely supported for overseas expansion, while simultaneously enhancing promotion and product development to build a strong image of excellent clean forest products.

The Korea Forest Service also plans to establish quality standards for excellent forest products under the national integrated brand 'K-Forest Food' to increase trust in Korean forest products overseas.

Additionally, the Korea Forest Service will scale up and strengthen the capabilities of key export organizations such as the Forest Product Export Association to systematically support overseas market development, nurture leading export organizations by product category, and enhance the export capabilities of Korean forest product companies.

Furthermore, the Korea Forest Service plans to build a dedicated platform for forest products called the ‘Online Trading Center’ to provide customized consulting and establish a service delivery system that facilitates contact between forest product exporters and buyers.

Nam Tae-heon, Deputy Director of the Korea Forest Service, said, “We will strive to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic forest industry through the expansion of forest product exports and contribute to job creation and income stabilization for forest households.”

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