Achieving Grand Prize Honors After Four Consecutive Years of Top Awards
Export Diversification and Niche Market Strategies Expand Distribution Network to 18 Countries
Pohang City is establishing itself as a new success model for agricultural and food exports, achieving both increased farm income and enhanced brand value for local agricultural products.
The city recently had the honor of winning the grand prize in the "2025 Agricultural and Food Export Policy Evaluation" hosted by Gyeongbuk Province.
Employees from the relevant departments of Pohang City, which won the grand prize in the "2025 Agricultural and Food Export Policy Evaluation" hosted by Gyeongbuk Province, are taking a commemorative photo with Mayor Lee Gangdeok on the 9th. Provided by Pohang City
The evaluation of outstanding cities and counties in agricultural and food export policy is a system that comprehensively assesses 12 areas, including export performance, export infrastructure development, efforts to pioneer overseas markets, and participation in export policies, targeting 22 cities and counties in Gyeongbuk Province.
Pohang City, which has continued to achieve top honors over the past four years, is now recognized as having brought its regional agricultural reform and agricultural export strategies to completion with this grand prize.
In particular, this achievement is noteworthy as it is the result of Mayor Lee Gangdeok's strong policy commitment and administrative support, which have created new growth engines for agriculture.
In this evaluation, Pohang City was highly praised for its export diversification strategy based on a variety of products such as strawberries, tomatoes, spinach, rice, napa cabbage, and radish, as well as for targeting niche markets and fostering export-specialized complexes.
It is also notable that the city actively pursued the development of new overseas markets in countries such as the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Mongolia, expanding its distribution network to a total of 18 countries.
Another major achievement was overcoming the limitations of fruit-centered exports, such as pears and apples, by developing demand-driven products and establishing a stable supply system, thereby enhancing competitiveness.
Pohang City had long been overshadowed by its steel industry-centered industrial structure and had not stood out in the field of agricultural exports. However, as the instability of domestic agricultural prices and the limitations of local sales channels became more apparent, the city took proactive steps with strong determination to find a breakthrough for local agriculture.
To differentiate itself from other local governments, the city hired an export specialist in 2018 and began establishing a fresh agricultural product export strategy that leveraged Pohang's geographical and environmental strengths.
In addition to identifying promising export items, the city established export-specialized complexes to build a system for nurturing each product and focused on the fresh agricultural product market, often called the "flower of exports."
As a result, Pohang City's agricultural and food export volume grew dramatically, increasing by approximately 261% from 3.4 billion won in 2018 to 8.9 billion won in 2024.
In particular, the strategy of expanding product categories centered on vegetables and grains proved highly effective, completely overcoming the previous limitations of a fruit-centered export structure. In addition, by intensively fostering top export items in Gyeongbuk Province such as napa cabbage, radish, tomato, and rice, the city also succeeded in diversifying its export portfolio.
Mayor Lee Gangdeok stated, "It is very meaningful to win the grand prize following four consecutive years of top honors," and added, "We will continue to develop systematic export strategies and provide administrative and policy support so that Pohang's agricultural and food products can be recognized in the global market."
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