Jinju-si Agricultural Products Export Performance Increases 28% Year-on-Year, Growth Trend Continues

Maintaining the Title of Top City for Fresh Agricultural Product Exports in Q1

Export Strawberry Sorting Site
[Image Source=Jinju-si]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province announced on the 11th that its agricultural product export performance in the first quarter of this year recorded 30.3 million USD, a 28% increase compared to the previous year.

Jinju City exported 26.8 million USD in the first quarter, a 38% increase compared to the previous year, driven by strong exports of strawberries mainly to Hong Kong and Singapore, along with the popularity of the Seolhyang and Geumsil varieties among consumers.

Additionally, exports of saesongi mushrooms increased by 50% to 740,000 USD due to an increase in participating farms.

Meanwhile, processed agricultural products exported amounted to 970,000 USD, with major items including balloon flower root concentrate, frozen strawberries, and plum extract. On the other hand, paprika exports decreased by 21% to 1.53 million USD due to an overall decline in consumption following the Japanese government's emergency declaration.

By country, export amounts were 10.2 million USD to Hong Kong, 7.4 million USD to Singapore, 3.7 million USD to Thailand, 2.5 million USD to Vietnam, and 1.7 million USD to Japan, showing continuous growth in the Hong Kong export market. These countries accounted for 84% of total exports.

A city official stated, “There are many difficulties in agricultural product exports due to local movement restrictions and weakened consumer sentiment caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). We plan to actively promote support projects that can be felt on the ground to help stabilize domestic supply and demand of agricultural products and improve farmers' income.”