Hong Moon-pyo, aT President, "Plan to Expand Low-Temperature Storage Bases to Stabilize Supply of Vegetables like Cabbage"

Announcement of Major Projects for 2025 at Press Briefing
"Strengthening Agricultural Product Storage and Safety Management in Response to Climate Change"
"Expanding K-Food Territory by Increasing Exports"

Hong Moon-pyo, President of the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), announced on the 5th that "we will strengthen agricultural product stockpiling capacity as well as storage and safety management to stabilize supply and demand amid climate change."

On the same day, President Hong held a press briefing in Sejong and said, "We are promoting the construction of Gangwon Province's first vegetable-specialized stockpiling base in Gangneung. In addition, we will continuously expand stockpiling capacity by integrating six aging stockpiling bases that are over 50 years old into three regional bases in Jeolla, Gyeongsang, and Chungcheong provinces."

aT is promoting the construction of a new stockpiling base of 6,159㎡ in Gangneung to enhance stockpiling capacity through the expansion of low-temperature stockpiling bases. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027. Also, the regional stockpiling bases that integrate six aging stockpiling bases into three will be promoted after preliminary feasibility studies.

They will also promote agricultural production and supply-demand management in response to climate change. In particular, for summer cabbage, which faced supply shortages last year due to unprecedented heatwaves, a new heat-resistant variety called Haradu is being pilot cultivated in five locations including Pyeongchang in Gangwon and Muju in Jeonbuk. A new project will be launched to conduct demonstration tests for kimchi manufacturing using the harvested cabbage.

Efforts will also be made to improve the distribution structure by reducing the distribution stages of agricultural products. Last year, the online wholesale market for agricultural and fishery products recorded a transaction amount of 673.7 billion KRW, exceeding the target (500 billion KRW) by 135%. This year, the platform is being upgraded to expand the range of traded items and enhance user convenience, aiming for transactions exceeding 1 trillion KRW.

Direct transactions connecting production areas and consumption areas will be further activated. While promoting win-win cooperation purchasing consultations to facilitate direct transactions between producers and consumers through direct transaction markets and direct stores, opportunities will also be directly provided to producers to connect with large buyers (such as school meal and food material companies, large marts) to help increase farm income.

aT plans to further strengthen the export competitiveness of agro-fisheries and food products, which achieved record-high performance for eight consecutive years with $12.85 billion last year. President Hong said, "Exports are part of expanding Korea’s food territory to increase sales of Korean agro-fisheries and food products. Beyond existing key markets, we will establish region-specific strategies such as halal-certified products in the Middle East and marketing emphasizing spiciness in Latin America, and continuously expand export markets by holding various events like K-Food fairs in major hub cities such as Dubai and Mumbai."