Korea aims to become world’s largest oyster exporter

Oysters are on show at a grocery store in Seoul, November 2024. Yonhap

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries introduced measures to foster the nation’s oyster farming business on Thursday with the intention of creating Korea the world’s largest exporter of the shellfish, in a bid to surpass France and China.

The announcement got here after Korea’s success with its dried seaweed exports, reaching 1 trillion gained ($688 million) for 2 consecutive years.

In keeping with the fisheries ministry, the dimensions of the worldwide oyster market was at $600 million as of 2022. In 2023, Korea exported $80 million price of oysters, remaining the world’s third-largest exporter of the shellfish, following France and China.

The federal government seeks to extend the dimensions of outbound shipments of Korean oysters to $160 million by 2030, elevating its manufacturing quantity to 400,000 tons by 2030 from 300,000 tons in 2023.

Particularly, the fisheries ministry will assist Korean oyster exporters‘ enlargement within the European market, the place shoppers choose oysters served with shells. Such kind of oysters are greater and dearer than these served with out shells, that are extra frequent within the Korean market.

With a plan to extend the proportion of the upper value-added kind of oysters to 30 % by 2030 from the present 1 %, the ministry will persuade oyster farmers to supply extra shelled oysters.

The ministry can be set to assist oyster exporters enhance their shares within the U.S. and Japanese markets, which at present account for 71 % of Korea’s whole oyster exports. Financing for oyster farmers to get worldwide certifications was among the many measures to advertise exports as nicely.

Moreover, the ministry will push forward with concentrating oyster-related industries and automating their manufacturing processes. Plans to advertise home oyster consumption and forestall the influx of pollution to oyster farms had been additionally included within the ministry’s newest announcement.

„As a result of oyster is a globally in style seafood not like different fisheries merchandise, Korean firms can seize a possibility for his or her world enlargement,“ Fisheries Minister Kang Do-hyung stated.