State of Korean and Overseas Markets for Environment-Friendly Agricultural Products and Challenges 2018

Abstract

 Recently, the acreage of certified environment-friendly agricultural products in South Korea has been stagnant since the slight decrease between 2013 and 2015.– In 2017, although the acreage of certified environment-friendly agricultural products in the country grew by 0.8% year on year, the shipment volume per hectare fell by 13.1% compared with the previous year to 496,400 tons. The market size of environment-friendly agricultural products in 2017 is estimated at KRW 1 trillion 360.8 billion, a 7.2% decrease from the previous year, because of the decline in the shipment volume despite the slight price increase. The market size of the products is forecasted to reach KRW 2 trillion 136 billion (organic agricultural products KRW 574.5 billion, non-pesticide agricultural products KRW 1 trillion 561.5 billion) by 2025, growing by 5.8% on annual average. In the world organic food market, because demand is increasing faster than supply, strategies for stable production and export of organic food are necessary.– It is needed to seek strategies for exporting to the US and Europe that account for most consumption of organic food in the world. To stably supply environment-friendly agricultural products, it is required to develop related technologies and production models for major products.– As the biggest difficulty in converting to environment-friendly agricultural practices is weeds, disease, and insect pest, it is necessary to first develop relevant technologies.– It is needed to develop and disseminate production models for major products. Because the market size of environment-friendly agricultural products is forecasted to continually grow by 2025, various plans to promote the consumption of the products are required.– Consumers think high prices the biggest difficulty in consumption. Therefore, to decrease the prices of environment-friendly agricultural products, it is necessary to continuously make up for the production cost gap between general farming and environment-friendly farming through direct payment programs, and to continually minimize costs by developing and using cheaper environment-friendly farm materials and equipment at the same time.– To stably secure a market for environment-friendly agricultural products, it is needed to first set up plans to gain consumer trust in the products. For sustainable agricultural production and incentives for environment-friendly agricultural production, it is required to effectively utilize agri-environment conservation programs that the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is planning.– Introducing and expanding these programs will financially support environment-friendly farms and enhance the sustainability of domestic agricultural production.– Also, introducing the programs is expected to be a good opportunity to raise awareness of the environmental value of environment-friendly agricultural production.