Establishment of 100 Smart Agricultural Distribution Centers... Online Exchange to Launch Within the Year

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Announces Plan to Modernize Agricultural Product Distribution Structure
"6% Reduction in Distribution Costs Expected by 2027"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] The government plans to establish 100 'Smart Agricultural Product Distribution Centers' (APCs) that produce customer-tailored products in major agricultural production areas by 2027. An online agricultural product exchange, enabling wholesale distributors to trade nationwide without time or space constraints, will be launched this year.

The government expects that through the digital transformation of agricultural product distribution, distribution costs can be reduced by 6% in 2027 compared to 2020.

On the 10th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the 'Plan to Modernize the Agricultural Product Distribution Structure' with these details.

The smart agricultural product distribution centers, which will stably supply various products, will be established in 100 locations by 2027. These facilities will have systems that automate and informatize the entire process from receipt to shipment, producing customer-tailored products with minimal time and cost.

The Ministry plans to create standard models for the centers for 10 major items such as apples, pears, potatoes, onions, and garlic in the first half of the year. A plan for regional expansion of the centers will also be established within the year. An integrated organization to operate the centers will be formed, and smart logistics hubs will be built by region.

The online exchange, a core element for digitizing agricultural product trading methods, will be launched within the year. It will start with wholesale trading of vegetables and fruits, expanding to livestock products in 2025 and food and grains in 2027. Various methods such as reservation trading will be introduced, and the Online Exchange Act will be enacted to ease regulations that only recognize transactions within individual wholesale markets. An electronic delivery note will be piloted at Garak Market to establish shipment and purchase forecasting systems.

The functions of local wholesale markets will also be reorganized. Markets with weak collection and distribution functions will be converted into regional agricultural product supply bases, and markets with low operational efficiency will be encouraged to merge and consolidate for long-term regional hub development.

The Ministry plans to train 30,000 online agricultural product marketers by 2027. The number of online direct transaction support centers, which assist direct sales from production areas to consumers, will also be increased to 100 by 2027.

A Ministry official said, "If this plan, including the establishment of a large-scale production area trading system and digital transformation of agricultural product distribution, is implemented without setbacks, it is expected that distribution costs can be reduced by 6.0% (26 trillion KRW annually) in 2027 compared to 2020."

By stages, distribution costs at the shipment stage are expected to be reduced by 5.3% (4 trillion KRW annually) by scaling up production area distribution based on APCs; wholesale stage distribution costs by 7.1% (7 trillion KRW annually) through the transition to online trading of major items; and distribution costs at wholesale and retail stages by 4.1% (15 trillion KRW annually) through the activation of online-centered direct transactions.

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