“Gyeongbuk Strawberries Did It!” ... Korea’s First Variety ‘Santa’ Receiving Overseas Royalties

Variety 'Alta King' Leads Southeast Asia Exports

The strawberry variety 'Santa,' the first to receive royalties overseas.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] The Seongju Melon and Fruit Vegetable Research Institute of the Gyeongbuk Agricultural Research and Extension Services has signed exclusive licensing agreements with four overseas companies, including the Spanish seed company Eurosemillas, to sell its self-developed strawberry varieties, generating royalty income of 66 million KRW since 2012.

Local strawberry farmers have cultivated more than 90% of the varieties Janghee (Akihime) and Yukbo (Red Pearl), imported from Japan since the mid-1990s.

Since South Korea joined the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 2002, substantial royalties have been paid for imported varieties.

To alleviate the royalty burden on farmers, the province began developing domestic varieties in 2006, cultivating 15 varieties including ‘Santa’ and ‘Alta King’.

As a result, strawberry varieties developed in Gyeongbuk are now cultivated not only domestically but also overseas, transforming the country from a royalty payer to a royalty recipient.

The ‘Santa’ strawberry variety, which was the first to generate royalties overseas, signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Eurosemillas in 2012 for sales within China.

To date, royalties of 50 million KRW have been received from the sale of strawberry seedlings corresponding to an accumulated cultivation area of approximately 65.2 hectares of Santa in China.

In particular, Santa has the earliest harvest season and is produced and sold in China to coincide with Christmas, earning the nickname Seongdanhong (聖誕紅) and enjoying great popularity.

Additionally, the ‘Alta King’, ‘Honey Bell’, and ‘Berista’ varieties have been exclusively licensed in five countries including Vietnam, China, and Uzbekistan, generating about 17 million KRW in royalties.

Due to the excellent quality of these varieties, demand for K-strawberries is steadily increasing.

‘Alta King’, widely cultivated mainly in the Gimcheon area, is recognized as a premium export strawberry and is highly regarded in Southeast Asia.

After the first export of 1.9 tons to Singapore and Thailand in 2020, exports increased 18-fold to 35.5 tons in 2021 across six countries including Hong Kong and Vietnam.

This year, it has been selected as a K-Berry premium variety, with the number of export countries increasing to eight, and it is being exported to Southeast Asia at a high price of over 30,000 KRW per kilogram.

The Agricultural Research and Extension Services have signed non-exclusive licensing agreements with six companies, including Gamro Strawberry Farming Association Corporation and Good Farmers Group, which specialize in strawberry seedling cultivation, to supply high-quality seedlings of varieties like Santa and Alta King that are gaining attention overseas to local farmers.

Shin Yongseup, Director of the Gyeongbuk Agricultural Research and Extension Services, said, “We will strive to transform into an electronic agriculture-based system that can produce a large quantity of high-quality strawberries to improve local farmers’ incomes and foster an export-driven strawberry industry.”