[K-FOOD GOES GLOBAL] Overseas markets grow a sweet tooth for Korean fruit

From the majestic King's Berry that grows as large as a tennis ball to the pink-hued Snowberry, Korea's homegrown strawberry breeds are taking off beyond local borders.

King's Berry, a domestically-developed variety twice the size of average strawberries [K-BERRY]

From the majestic King's Berry that grows as large as a tennis ball to the pink-hued Snowberry, Korea's homegrown strawberry breeds are taking off beyond local borders.

Defined by their sweet flavor, firmness and beautiful shape, such strawberry ranges are leading examples of premium “K-fruit”, which has been steadily expanding its presence on the table of overseas consumers.

The name Kuemsil, for one, may not ring a bell for many, but this local variety of strawberries has been driving up Korea's strawberry exports since it was first developed in 2016.

Kuemsil now accounts for around 70 percent of the total amount of strawberries shipped overseas, thanks to its high sugar content and good storability.

Kuemsil strawberries, developed by the Gyeongsangnam-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services [NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HORTICULTURAL AND HERBAL SCIENCE]

“Kuemsil tastes very sweet with excellent flavor, and therefore is widely considered as more a high-quality product compared to other varieties,” said Kim Yeon-gyoung, senior staff at Korean Strawberry Export Integration Organization (K-Berry), a joint export organization of farmers and exporters.

Korea’s strawberry export volume reached 4 million tons worth $58.6 million last year, nearly seven times the export revenue in 2013, and up 72 percent from $34.1 million in 2016. Strawberry exports so far this year came in at $52.1 billion as of June, already approaching last year’s total export volume.

The Southeast Asian region is its main export market, which is gradually expanding to the Middle East and North America.

Singapore is the largest importer of Korean strawberries. K-strawberry's market share has been at 40 percent in the country on average for the past three years, according to K-Berry. The figure remains at around 30 percent in Hong Kong, and the market share in Thailand has been rapidly increasing to 35 percent.

Along with Kuemsil, “we are exporting a wide range of premium strawberries through varietal development, such as Highberry, VitaBerry, Altaking, Snowberry, and King's Berry,” said Kim, adding that the demand for such high-quality strawberries has been on a constant rise.

Of those luxury varieties, King's Berry stands out with its hand-filling size, as the domestically-developed breed grows twice as large as average strawberries. Snowberry, grown in Hadong, South Gyeongsang, catches the eye with its iconic pink color.

Snowberry, a domestically-developed strawberry variety [K-BERRY]

Korea, which used to pay royalty fees for overseas varieties of strawberries, is now selling its domestically-developed varieties to other countries.

Gyeongsangnam-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services, a research institute under the South Gyeongsang local government, is the developer of the Kuemsil variety. The institute has recently signed a 100 million-won ($78,530) export contract with a U.S. company to supply Kuemsil seedlings. Royalty fees will start to be paid after three years, based on the amount of Kuemsil strawberries produced by U.S. farmers.

“Maehyang has been the dominant variety in the export market, but it has been replaced with Kuemsil for the past three years or so,” said Ahn Jae-wook, a researcher at the institute’s strawberry division.

“In order to ship strawberries to overseas markets, the fruits should maintain a certain level of firmness for storability, which Maehyang lacks. Maehyang strawberries are also more susceptible to deformation, pushing down productivity as a result," the researcher explained.

"The Kuemsil variety is significantly better in such aspects."

Meanwhile, there is also one foreign variety of fruit that is now driving up Korea's fresh food export: shine muscat.

Shine muscat, a sweet, seedless green grape variety that originated in Japan, represents the overwhelming majority of Korea's exports now. Since 2016, the year when shine muscat exports began, the total grape export volume grew from $5.4 million to $34.3 million last year.

In order to bring in royalty fees from a newly-developed fruit variety, the developer needs to trademark the breed in a set period of time, yet Japan failed to meet the deadline for registration from the international authorities — which ultimately made Korea and China its competitors in the global shine muscat market.

Amid heated competition, Korean shine muscat is certainly making a name for itself, especially in the Southeast Asian region.

"Compared to Japanese products, which often have better quality, Korean grapes are about 25 to 30 percent cheaper, so we have a competitive edge in terms of price," said Hwang Eui-chang, representing director of the Korea Grape Export Association (K-grape).

On the other hand, "Korean grapes are of much higher quality compared to Chinese ones yet are also selling at a much higher price," explained Hwang.

Shine muscat grapes [K-GRAPE]

Asian pears have also been a long-standing steady seller in overseas markets, with the United States being their biggest importer.

Korean pear exports reached 26,276 tons worth $74.4 million last year, with the United States representing 48 percent, followed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Canada.

“In Southeast Asia, the awareness and popularity of Korean products have been slowly but steadily increasing thanks to the K-wave,” said Kim Gil-dong, executive director of Korea Pear Export Corporation (KPEC).

“We ran a new media promotion project targeting Vietnam, the third largest pear exporter after the United States and Taiwan, and also received a positive response through a national TV broadcast on the dangers of Chinese counterfeit pears and how to distinguish them,” added Kim.

Korean pears with anti-counterfeit stickers [KPEC]

Southeast Asian countries are the biggest market for K-fruits in general, with shine muscat grapes, strawberries and pears proving the most popular products, according to Lee Gwang-seong, an official at the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT).

“The biggest and primary driver is the surging popularity of K-culture,” Lee said.

“Moreover, the Southeast Asian countries, led by Vietnam, are seeing a rapid growth in household income," which boosted demand for luxury fruits, explained Lee.

“Strawberries, pears and shine muscat grapes are all being sold at a higher price compared to other commodities in the countries, yet consumers are still seeking those products because there is a solid demand for luxury fruit gifts and the like,” he added.

Tapping into the growing demand, Lotte Mart recently conducted a marketing campaign in Indonesia in collaboration with aT to promote Korean food products.

During the promotional event, which ran from May 5 to June 18 under the theme of "House of K-food”, what garnered the biggest response from Indonesian customers was apples from Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang, according to the company.

Lotte Mart ran a promotional campaign in Indonesia for Korean food products including apples from Cheongsong, North Gyeongsang, in May. [LOTTE MART]

Korean apples have higher firmness and a more distinctive taste compared to products from China or Australia. The healthy flavor is what drew in the local consumers, explained Lotte Mart.

The retail franchise operator has also begun supplying Korean peaches to Indonesia. Peaches are flown directly from Korea to Jakarta within 24 hours after being sorted for sugar content, which pushes down the selling prices, according to Lotte.

However, there remain challenges to tackle for agriculture, forestry and fishery exports to gain bigger traction, as Korea’s food exports are still largely driven by processed food products such as ramyeon instead of fresh products.

“A subsidy program for export logistics support will be discontinued by 2024, so there need to be other measures to support the industry,” Kim of KPEC suggested.

“The government’s support for domestically-produced agricultural products should be continuously expanded, so Korean products can gain more competitiveness in the global market,” stressed Kim.

Another challenge comes from knock-off low-quality products that confuse consumers whether the fruit has been imported from Korea or other countries, such as China.

The KPEC hands out over 20 million anti-counterfeit stickers every year with QR codes to prevent Chinese pears from being confused with Korean ones, while K-grape has developed an anti-counterfeit wrapping material.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]