S. Korea's farm, fisheries exports rise 5.5 pct

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's farm, fisheries and food exports rose
5.5 percent annually in the first two months of this year thanks to a solid gain
in demand from Japan, the agriculture ministry said Monday.
Outbound shipments topped US$653.5 million in the January-February period,
compared to $619.2 million tallied for the same two month period the year before,
the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.
Exports to Japan jumped 15.5 percent annually to $225.4 million, while those to
the European Union (EU) and Hong Kong gained 23.3 percent and 6 percent,
respectively. Shipments to the EU reached $31.5 million, while those to Hong Kong
hit $27.1 million.
The ministry, however, said that exports to other large markets, including the
United States, China, Russia and Taiwan all lost ground.
"The gains are important since South Korea's overall exports declined 25.6
percent in January and February vis-a-vis the year before," said Byun Sang-moon,
a ministry official.
The government has said that it wants to push up farm, fisheries and food exports
to $5.3 billion this year from $4.4 billion reached in 2008.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)