Korea's exports of food, agro products hit all-time high in first half of year

Korea's exports of agricultural and food products climbed to a record high in the first half on the growing popularity of Korean culture, the agriculture ministry said Thursday. The combined outbound shipments of agricultural and food items amounted to $6.67 billion in the January-June period, up 7.1 percent from $6.22 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It marked the highest first-half figure on record, the ministry added. By item, exports of instant noodles, or ramyeon in Korean, surged 24 percent on-year to $731.7 million over the cited period and shipments of sauce products climbed 18.4 percent to $228.4 million, while ice cream exports rose 23.1 percent to $65.5 million. Exports of chicken meat also expanded 7.9 percent to $45.6 million, driven by the popularity of frozen chicken and Korean ginseng chicken soup in the U.S., according to the ministry. Exports of farm machinery, veterinary pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and other products also went up 3.1 percent on-year to $1.5 billion during the cited period. By deWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times