‘Sejong Local Food’ Establishes Itself as a Rural-Urban Win-Win Model

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Sejong-type local food is establishing itself as a representative urban-rural win-win model for the region.

According to Sejong City on the 14th, as of the end of last year, the cumulative sales of the two Sejong-type local food direct stores, Singsing Market, exceeded 150 billion KRW. Nationwide, only two places?Wanju (2017) and Sejong (2021)?have surpassed cumulative sales of 150 billion KRW at local food direct stores.

The average daily sales of Sejong-type local food have also increased remarkably. From 17 million KRW in 2015, it rose sixfold to 101 million KRW by the end of last year. During the same period, the number of Singsing Market members increased tenfold from 6,168 to 58,578, and the average daily store visitors rose from 909 to 3,696.

In particular, Sejong’s rapid sales growth is significant considering that it introduced local food direct stores three years later than Wanju, with 12 fewer stores and about 1,600 fewer affiliated farms.

The explosive growth of Sejong-type local food in six years is analyzed to have been driven mainly by the safe and swift supply of local food products.

In fact, the city emphasizes that it supplies local food based on the principles of ‘one-day distribution’ and ‘same-day shipment and sale,’ while conducting about 700 safety inspections, including residual pesticide tests, at production and distribution stages to enhance trust in locally produced food.

The sales growth of Sejong-type local food also holds significance as an urban-rural win-win model within the region. First, the city analyzes that stable income for farms participating in Singsing Market has led to a restructuring of farms toward local food agriculture, and the activation of local food has resulted in positive effects such as preventing capital outflow and creating jobs.

The number of farms participating in Singsing Market increased more than fourfold from 218 in 2015 to 954 last year, and the number of items these farms supply and actually sell grew more than threefold from 262 to 669. In this process, the city explains that the average monthly sales per farm shipping to Singsing Market increased by 32%, from 2.4 million KRW in 2015 to 3.16 million KRW by the end of last year.

Building on this momentum, the city plans to open the third Singsing Market this year and begin construction of the fourth, aiming to maintain food safety and public interest for citizens while strengthening the urban-rural win-win system through Sejong-type local food.

A city official said, “We will strive to lead the domestic local food market and set a new milestone with Sejong-type local food,” adding, “To this end, the city will continue to create conditions for urban and rural areas to achieve mutual development based on trust and consideration.”