Miryang City Agricultural Products Gain Explosive Popularity Abroad... Exports Reach 108 Billion KRW

On the 24th, Miryang City in Gyeongnam announced that despite the difficult conditions caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, it achieved export performance in the agricultural and food sector in 2022 of $84.6 million (KRW 108 billion), a 97% increase compared to the previous year's export amount of $43.78 million (KRW 54.7 billion).

Compared to the previous year, the 2022 export performance showed an increase in export volumes of fresh agricultural products such as strawberries (up 58%), as well as persimmons and chopi. Additionally, exports of processed agricultural food products including sauces, pickles, plant-based cream, and ramen rose sharply by 106%.

Onion farmers in Miryang-si, Gyeongnam, are loading Miryang chopi for export to Japan in August last year. [Image source=Miryang City Hall]

The city cited the operation of the new Samyang Foods factory, which was attracted to the Miryang Nano Convergence National Industrial Complex and began operating in May last year, as a major factor in the rise in export performance from the previous year. Furthermore, through continuous efforts to diversify exports such as holding overseas local export promotion events, persimmons and rice were exported to Malaysia and Kenya.

In particular, the two-year consecutive export growth rate of ‘Miryang strawberries’ is remarkable. It increased by 68% in 2021 and 58% in 2022. With pride as the birthplace of Korean strawberries, Miryang actively held export events to promote Miryang strawberries worldwide. As a result, they received steady love in Hong Kong and Indonesia and successfully entered the markets of Malaysia and Vietnam, showcasing the excellent taste of Miryang strawberries.

This year, the city plans to actively implement policies such as promoting overseas marketing events and supporting the development of export companies. By establishing an organic export network among fresh agricultural product producers, processing companies, and buyers, it is expected that the mutual growth of participating farms and food companies will lead to the revitalization of the local economy.

Mayor Park Il-ho said, “This year as well, we will actively support export farms facing difficulties with export entry barriers and make our best efforts to ensure stable income generation for export farms and companies by continuously communicating and building relationships with foreign buyers and pioneering new export countries.”

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