Korea’s food and agricultural exports surged 34.3 percent on-year in the first five months of 2011 mainly due to a rise in demand from Japan and other Asian countries, the government said Monday.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said outbound shipments reached $2.82 billion in the cited period, fueled by solid overseas demand for such goods as ginseng, processed food and various beverages.

Exports of fresh farm products, including meat and ginseng products, rose 30.9 percent to $358.60 billion, with fisheries goods up 28.2 percent to $879.20 million till late last month.

Outbound shipments of processed goods such as instant noodles, crackers and alcoholic beverages also rose sharply by 38.8 percent on-year with exports reaching $1.58 billion.

In May alone, outbound shipments jumped 52 percent compared to the previous year to $640 million, the highest monthly total tallied for the month-long period.

“Exports to Japan that had been growing by around 22 percent before the massive March 11 quake increased to 31 percent after the island nation’s farm production was disrupted by the release of radioactive materials into the environment,” the ministry said. It added shipments to other Asian countries can be attributed to overseas buyers opting to import Korean goods as problems in supply and concerns about radiation have made them more cautious about Japanese farm and food products.

Exports to Japan, the single largest buyer of South Korean farm and food products, rose 30.7 percent to $882.00 million, with shipments to Taiwan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations jumping 75.0 percent and 51.1 percent, respectively. Numbers for China and Hong Kong moved up 50.5 percent and 32.0 percent vis-a-vis May 2010.

“Demand for emergency food products such as instant noodles, biscuits and bottled water were high in Japan as well as various seafood products like laver and brown seaweed,” it said.

Besides exports being fueled by problems in Japan, the ministry claimed greater better quality control and aggressive marketing efforts have helped locally produced goods make inroads into overseas markets.

It said ginseng and makgeolli, or traditional Korean rice wine, benefited from such endeavors.

Given the present pace, the country should be able to meet this year’s farm goods export target of $7.60 billion, which is a gain from a record $5.88 billion tallied in 2010, the ministry said. It said that there is a good chance that Korea may even be able to ship out $10 billion worth of farm, fisheries and processed food products in 2012. 

(Yonhap News)