Gov`t to help secure foreign markets for food products

SEOUL, Feb. 19 (Yonhap) -- The government plans to assist local food material
companies secure steady foreign markets to help fuel South Korea's agricultural
exports, officials said Thursday.
The plan comes as the government aims to increase farm and processed food-related
exports to US$5.3 billion this year, up 20 percent from a year earlier. Food
materials are farm goods that have been semi-processed for immediate cooking.
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said the state-run
Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. will move to set up a dedicated task force to
oversee marketing and find buyers for food materials.
"Initial buyers will likely be the 7,300 factories operated by South Korean
companies abroad that have in-house cafeterias, along with the thousands of
Korean restaurants that are serving customers around the world," said a ministry
official.
The agriculture ministry, meanwhile, said the country's farm exports decreased 6
percent on-year in January to $320 million.
Exports of kimchi, a traditional side dish of pickled cabbage, as well as
mushrooms and pork all posted double digit gains, while those for flowers, tuna
and soju -- a distilled alcoholic beverage -- reported losses of 30-60 percent
compared to the first month of 2008.
Outbound shipments to Japan increased, while those to the United States, China,
Hong Kong, Russia, Taiwan and the European Union decreased.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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