South Korean growers wrap up strawberry season

After a year in which cool weather helped produce a strawberry crop of very good quality, South Korean growers are reflecting on a season that wrapped up a few weeks ago. While the domestic market has been doing very well, the strawberry industry is trying to get growers to realize that expanding their thinking about the export market would be beneficial for them.

“We want to push growers to follow the trends of the export markets,” said Calvin Oh of Elim Trading. This season, which ran from November through May, South Korean growers produced over 171,000 MT of strawberries on over 7,000 hectares of land, and on top of those yields, cool weather made for what Calvin describes as a crop of exceptional quality. Even more beneficial for growers, prices on the domestic market have been rising for several years, meaning growers are enjoying good returns. But Calvin noted that their association is trying to get growers to look beyond just the domestic market.

“If the local market is good, growers don't want to drop prices,” said Calvin. “But we have to teach them to see beyond the local market.” The worry is that if growers forgo international markets because domestic prices are high, then they'll be at a disadvantage if domestic prices should fall and they have no foreign outlets where they can sell their goods.

“We know prices are getting high, and we've been getting complaints from foreign buyers,” said Calvin. “So we're taking steps to keep prices under control for the upcoming season.” As it is, most of the country's exports, which reached 3,000 MT last year and were worth $23 million, went to Hong Kong and Singapore. While those two markets make up 80 percent of exports, there are some shipments that go to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Missing from that list are countries that are outside of Asia. Because all strawberry shipments are handled by air freight, exporting to Asian countries is economical when competing with U.S. strawberries shipped to Asia. But Calvin hopes they can add more countries to the mix of markets where they export strawberries.

“Companies want to reach Russian markets and the U.A.E.,” said Calvin. “The problem is that air freight charges to those markets are high, but the main variety we ship, the Mae Hyang, is of high quality, so it has a long shelf life and can make the trip.”

Contact details:
Calvin Oh
Korea Strawberry Export Association
Tel: +82-10-6265-3217
Email: [email protected]
www.elimkorea.com