Chungnam Province Opens 'Dried Gim Exchange' in Seocheon... "Preventing Mid-Low Price Contracts"

Opening of 'Georaeso' at Seocheon-gun Kim General Business Center
Preventing 'low to mid-price' private contracts between companies and overseas buyers
Expecting to receive 'fair price' through bidding transaction method

Chungnam Province has opened the nation's first dried Gim (seaweed) exchange in Seocheon. Gim is considered a representative export item among Chungnam's seafood products. However, until now, the market price has not been clearly established, resulting in frequent cases of transactions at low to mid-range prices. The exchange was opened to prevent such cases.

Chungnam Province announced on the 23rd that it recently opened and is operating the "Chungnam International Dried Gim Exchange" in Seocheon County.

Provided by Chungnam Province

The exchange was established as part of the Gim Industry Promotion Zone designation project, with a total project cost of 445 million KRW, located inside the Gim Comprehensive Business Center in Wol-ri, Seomyeon, Seocheon County.

Previously, Chungnam Province and Seocheon County participated in the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' public project "Designation of Gim Industry Promotion Zone" last year to secure export price competitiveness for dried Gim, through which they secured 5 billion KRW in national funding.

Before the exchange opened, dried Gim was exported by foreign buyers individually visiting local companies to sign export contracts.

The problem was that during this process, the market price of dried Gim was unclear, leading to cases where even high-quality products were contracted for export at low to mid-range prices below their true value.

However, with the opening of the exchange, Chungnam Province expects these issues to be resolved going forward.

The exchange operates by having overseas buyers visit the site and bid directly. Chungnam Province expects this to solve the problem of low-price contracts (transactions) caused by individual private contracts between companies and buyers.

On the day of the opening ceremony, more than 30 overseas buyers from 8 countries gathered to participate in the bidding for Chungnam-produced Gim.

Jang Jin-won, Director of the Marine and Fisheries Bureau of Chungnam Province, said, "The opening of the exchange is expected to increase the distribution efficiency of dried Gim produced locally and serve as a stepping stone for transactions at 'fair prices' reflecting the product's value."

Meanwhile, exports of Chungnam-produced Gim have more than doubled in the past four years, contributing to the region's total seafood product exports exceeding 200 million USD.