Uiryeong Toyoae Distribution Turns Profitable with Increase in 'Maechwi Business' Items

Innovative Management, Market Development, and Distribution

Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongnam Province announced on the 5th that Toyoe Distribution (hereinafter 'Toyoe'), a public distribution enterprise for Uiryeong agricultural products, has turned a profit for the first time in seven years based on innovative management.

Toyoe faced an existential crisis due to internal and external factors such as poor management after posting a profit in 2017. Through joint efforts by the county and the Toyoe Distribution Normalization Promotion Committee to expand the purchase business items, a profit of 61 million KRW was achieved last year.

A panoramic view of the Uiryeong-gun Agricultural Products Comprehensive Distribution Center. Provided by Uiryeong-gun.

The expansion of the 'purchase business,' a method where the cooperative collectively buys and sells agricultural products produced by its members, was the catalyst for turning a profit.

Toyoe prioritized guaranteeing farmers' income by purchasing agricultural products at fixed prices through the purchase method rather than consignment, and set purchase prices at a high level to meet farmers' expectations.

Last year, Toyoe increased the volume of the purchase business by 12% and expanded the target items from being limited to watermelons to include leaf lettuce, Chodang corn, and zucchini.

In particular, zucchini, which was included in the purchase business for the first time last year, supported stable shipments despite price fluctuations by period, laying the foundation for turning a profit.

Governor Park Wansu and County Head O Taewan visited the Uiryeong County Agricultural Products Comprehensive Distribution Center on January 21. Provided by Uiryeong County

Jae-duk Oh, CEO of Toyoe Distribution, leveraged his over 30 years of experience working at the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation to expand the logistics human network market, achieving concrete results by supplying Uiryeong agricultural products to several large distribution companies such as Nonghyup Logistics.

On February 20th, at the Toyoe business plan briefing, County Governor Tae-wan Oh expressed his determination to manage Uiryeong Toyoe as a 'joint-stock company.'

Governor Oh said, "Through the role of Uiryeong-gun as a joint-stock company that takes full responsibility from market development to distribution once agricultural products are produced, we will help farmers continue their livelihoods without worry," adding, "We will grow Toyoe into the nation's top distribution company worthy of the expectations of county residents and local farmers."

Meanwhile, Uiryeong-gun completed remodeling of the Agricultural Products Comprehensive Distribution Center last year by utilizing the Local Extinction Response Fund to establish a smart management system including new sorting lines connected to information processing and automated classification, accelerating quality standardization and increased handling volume.