250 Smart Factories to Be Established for K-Food Global Expansion

Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Join Forces to Focus on Nurturing Food Manufacturing and Agricultural SMEs

An important stepping stone is being laid for the global market success of K-Food. For systematic support, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will collaborate and establish 250 smart factories together with the private sector to achieve automation and intelligence in food manufacturing processes.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it will cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to strengthen the global competitiveness of K-Food and related industries. On this day, at the NongHyup Central Association in Jung-gu, Seoul, the two ministries signed a memorandum of understanding on supporting the global expansion of 'K-Food Plus(+)', including smart factory construction, overseas market development, financial and distribution support. K-Food Plus is a concept that adds upstream and downstream industries such as intelligent farms, agricultural machinery, pet food, and veterinary pharmaceuticals to agricultural and food products.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is delivering a greeting at the 'Win-Win Agreement Ceremony for the Leap of the K-FOOD+ Industry' held on the 23rd at the NongHyup Central Association in Jung-gu, Seoul.

At this signing ceremony, attended by about 30 people including representatives from Samsung Electronics, NongHyup Central Association, and SMEs participating in the project, an agreement was signed to promote manufacturing innovation in the food manufacturing industry through smart factory construction and to promote overseas expansion in the agricultural industry sector. The participating organizations agreed that for the continuous development of K-Food Plus, it is necessary to improve the corporate structure through production innovation and organically link support policies across finance, sales channels, and overseas expansion, and decided to actively cooperate in each field.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, “To foster K-Food Plus as a new growth engine, innovation across the entire food value chain is needed, including new food development, efficiency in manufacturing and distribution processes, and global expansion,” adding, “Close collaboration between ministries is important to support this more systematically.” The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced plans to raise about 42 billion KRW in funds by 2027 together with private sectors such as Samsung and NongHyup to establish 250 smart factories for automation and intelligence in food manufacturing processes, and to strengthen support for market expansion and exports.

Minister Song Mi-ryeong of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said, “At a time when overseas market interest in Korean agriculture and the food industry is gradually increasing, the two ministries have laid the foundation for expanding cooperation to secure the future competitiveness of our companies,” and added, “We will continue to expand collaboration with various ministries for the innovative transformation and growth of agriculture.”

Meanwhile, during the event, a roundtable meeting was held with SMEs participating in the smart food manufacturing factory and agricultural industry export support projects and related organizations. SME representatives proposed ▲expansion of policy funds ▲support for matching local overseas personnel ▲support for export logistics costs ▲exchange and cooperation with foreign research institutions. The two ministers said, “We will spare no policy efforts to further spread the achievements of this cooperation.”