Ministry of Food and Drug Safety:
Steady Growth Continues in Korea's Food Industry
Production and Exports Reach Record Highs
Health-Conscious and Convenience Foods Drive Sector Expansion
Korea's food industry has continued its steady growth, with last year's total production reaching 114 trillion won and exports exceeding 10 trillion won.
According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Food Safety Information Service on May 29, last year's domestic food industry production amounted to 114.8252 trillion won, an increase of 5.8% compared to the previous year's 108.4875 trillion won. This accounts for 4.5% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) of 2,549.1207 trillion won and 16.8% of the total manufacturing GDP of 684.5992 trillion won.
Food industry exports totaled 7.25915 billion dollars (approximately 10.0147 trillion won), a 10% increase compared to the same period last year (6.60121 billion dollars).
By sector, food, food additives, and packaging accounted for 74.292 trillion won; livestock products for 37.7714 trillion won; and health functional foods for 2.7618 trillion won in production.
Within the food sector, the top produced items were ready-to-eat and convenience foods (5.8859 trillion won), sauces (4.9555 trillion won), and bakery products (3.7527 trillion won), maintaining the same ranking as last year. The top exported items were ramen, ready-to-eat and convenience foods, and seasoned seaweed.
Additionally, the spread of value consumption that seeks both health and enjoyment has led to increased development and production of products reflecting health-related trends such as 'Healthy Pleasure' and 'Well-Aging'.
Production of sugar-free products and high-protein products increased by 20.1% and 24%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Notably, the number of sugar-free product categories reported in production reached 590, more than double the previous year.
In the livestock sector, the top produced items were packaged pork (9.8588 trillion won), packaged beef (8.096 trillion won), and marinated meats (5.9022 trillion won). Production of low-sugar, low-salt, and low-fat products increased by 21.3%, and products utilizing high-protein, low-fat cuts increased by 7.3%. For antibiotic-free and animal welfare products, production value has grown at an average annual rate of 11.9% over the past three years.
Last year, health functional food production increased by 0.1%, maintaining a similar level to the previous year. However, exports rose by 12.2% to 278.64 million dollars, marking double-digit growth for the second consecutive year. Production of vitamin and mineral products has steadily increased each year, surpassing red ginseng products, which had long held the top spot, to become the leading product in production value last year.
There were a total of 10 companies with annual production exceeding 1 trillion won: nine food manufacturing and processing companies and one livestock processing company. The top producer was CJ CheilJedang, maintaining its position from the previous year with 2.844 trillion won in production, followed by Nongshim (2.3766 trillion won), Lotte Chilsung Beverage (2.2461 trillion won), Ottogi (1.6503 trillion won), and Lotte Wellfood (1.5028 trillion won).
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