Online Wholesale Market for Agricultural and Marine Products Achieves '2024 Transaction Volume of 500 Billion KRW'... Distribution Costs Reduced by 7.4%

Commemoration Ceremony at the 'Nongsanmul Distribution Innovation Expo'

The online wholesale market for agricultural and marine products, launched on November 30 last year, recorded a transaction amount of 552.4 billion KRW as of the 17th of this year, exceeding the transaction target of 500 billion KRW.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that it will hold the 'Agricultural Products Distribution Innovation Expo' on the 23rd at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, to commemorate achieving the 500 billion KRW transaction target for the agricultural and marine products online wholesale market in 2024.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained, "This is the result of continuous institutional improvements such as expanding transaction items and relaxing seller membership requirements, which the ministry has promoted to establish a transaction base for the online wholesale market." They added, "Due to advantages such as reducing logistics costs for sellers and search costs for buyers, participation of sellers and buyers expanded from 331 locations in January to 3,736 locations in December this year. Additionally, 61.8% of total transactions involved direct delivery of products from production areas to small and medium-sized marts in consumption areas, improving logistics efficiency." According to the ministry, actual transactions in the online wholesale market this year led to a 3.5% increase in farmers' receipts, a 7.4% reduction in distribution costs, and a 3.9% increase in consumer welfare.

About 150 people attended the event, including government and related agencies such as the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, agricultural organizations, distribution industry officials, academia, and experts. The event featured reports on major achievements in digital distribution innovation, a ceremony celebrating the achievement of 500 billion KRW in the online wholesale market, and an awards ceremony for innovative agricultural product distribution companies.

Jeju Nonghyup Cooperative Joint Business Corporation was selected as the innovative agricultural product distribution company. Since the early days of the online wholesale market, Jeju Jogong developed and launched online-exclusive specialized products using tangerines, securing 10 additional clients and achieving growth through digital means. This resulted in a 10.1% reduction in distribution costs, a 4.5% increase in farmers' receipts, and a 5.6% increase in consumer welfare.

Song Miryung, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, stated, "The ultimate goal of innovating the agricultural product distribution structure is to create a distribution ecosystem where producers receive fair prices and consumers can purchase agricultural products at reasonable prices." She added, "We will continue to do our best to innovate the distribution structure together with farmers, distribution stakeholders, and related agencies to produce results that the public can feel."