In 2008, the Korean government set up a goal of achieving 10 billion dollars in agro-food export to create new demand sources and improve the competitiveness of Korean agricultural products. With this background in mind, this study reviewed the situation of overall agro-exports and export promotion projects and provided improvement strategies. The results of this study are summarized as follows:
(1) Although the world's biggest market for agricultural products is EU, there is little possibility of expanding Korea's agricultural exports to the region due to mostly intra-trade. Sales strategies for agro-food in the future have to be focused on Asia, North America, and Russia. With respect to the export of seasonal agricultural products, the United States and China are competing with us.
(2) If the Korean government implements simultaneously many policy projects or support programs to achieve the short-term goal of increasing agro-food exports, it may cause moral hazard or waste of money. Therefore, the government should support agro-food exports with the long-term view of building infrastructure and unifying export support channels. To minimize the harmful effects of government intervention, many assistance projects fostering agro-exports should be kept in balance.
(3) Commodity-based organizations should be built to solve the problems related with agro-food exports. This project must be linked with other export promoting organizations such as horticultural corporations.
(4) In order to improve the logistics for export, measures should be taken to utilize the storage warehouse of Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corporation as an export logistics center. Other measures needed to increase agricultural export include strengthening of education and publicity on post-harvest management and promotion of food safety through the supply of pesticide residue testing equipment that are convenient to use.
(5) To increase farm income, domestic price of agricultural produce should be supported by exporting the surplus. To increase exports continuously, it is necessary to increase the facility usage rate and secure a certain amount of produce or install new facilities. For the expansion of horticultural exports, it is necessary to set up measures to reduce seed purchase cost and heating cost and be equipped with an education system for the development and use of renewable energy.
(6) In regard to agricultural production for export, it is necessary to reduce royalties on foreign varieties and develop high-quality domestic varieties. Also, it is necessary to adopt Good Agricultural Practices and induce uniformity in the quality and grade of agricultural products. The education of farmers and related groups should be strengthened.
(7) As for the measures supporting the export of processed foods and food materials, most assistance is made in the form of logistics assistance. Also, there is the problem of overseas market disruption due to separate assistance by regional governments. Therefore, it is necessary to have strategic planning of assistance in consideration of market efficiency instead of direct assistance.