Kimchi is a food which we take as it is without cooking after curing main raw materials of leaf and root vegetables such as cabbage and white radish, mixing them with seasoning vegetables such as chili powder and garlic and then fermenting after mixing with processed goods and salted fishes. Kimchi is the biggest processed food for vegetables such as cabbages and at the same time is the largest consumption item for Koreans next to rice.
This research was performed under the objective of presenting the development strategy for Kimchi industry by identifying the production, consumption and industry structures of Kimchi and analyzing its change factors. For this research, various statistics data, survey results on the conditions of consumption for households, food service and feeding service entities, survey data for the use of raw materials, production and sales conditions of Kimchi manufacturers and civil consumer panel survey data were used, and analysis was conducted based on statistical method such as regression analysis. Advices were sought from the experts in industry and academy fields in the course of survey, analysis and the establishment of development strategy. As an overseas case, the example of Japan's Kimchi and pickle industry was presented.
The size of Kimchi industry ranges from 825 billion won to 946 billion won on 2009 shipping price basis and 1 trillion to 1.1 trillion won level on retail market basis. Cabbage Kimchi market has been stagnated but other Kimchi markets are expanding. In the household Kimchi market, Kimchi for selling by weight has stagnated but packed Kimchi is expanding. Kimchi manufacturers are small in size having average employees of 12.6 persons per manufacturer. However, the number of Kimchi manufacturers was significantly reduced to 950 level in 2008 due to the influence of global financial crisis. Market share of top 3 Kimchi manufacturers is 14.9% which is not so high. However, in the case of packed Kimchi for households, market concentration ratio by large corporations is estimated to be very high as more than 70%.
The proportions of the use of raw materials by Kimchi manufacturers on purchase cost basis are 48.3% for cabbage, 25.9% for chili powder, 10.4% for white radish and 8.5% for garlic, which represents particularly high proportions in the case of cabbage and chili powder. According to this, the dependence rates on imports of chili powder and solar salt, the unit price of which are high, are on high side as 26.8% and 15.0% respectively. The proportion of sales amounts of Kimchi products are 36.9% for household, 57.2% for food service and 5.9% for processing by manufacturers, which represents highest proportion for food service. Recently, however, the sales of Kimchi for household shows increasing trend.
The number of households which make Kimchi by themselves are decreasing whereas the households which get Kimchi from relatives or friends or purchase Kimchi products are increasing. The attributes which consumers pay attention to when they purchase Kimchi are taste and sanitation stability while priority checking items were the name of manufacturer (brand) and the country of origin. Consumers responded at the evaluation on the taste of Kimchi products that the Kimchi used too much chemical seasoning and salts while consumers preferred not only well matured Kimchi but also raw Kimchi or slightly not well matured Kimchi against the question of the maturity level of Kimchi. As to the kinds of Kimchi which consumers want to increase their consumption, their responses were diversified indicating young radish root Kimchi, leaf mustard Kimchi, young radish leaf Kimchi, radish water Kimchi. Last year, 50.46% of food service and feeding service companies prepared Kimchi for winter and survey revealed that most of them either directly made Kimchi themselves or purchased Kimchi products from manufacturers. The result of survey showed that food service and feeding service companies put emphasis sanitary safety and price in addition to taste at the time of purchasing Kimchi and checked the country of origin and expiration date with priority. The result of survey revealed that the kinds of Kimchi which food service and feeding service companies wanted to consume more in the future were 'Mak' (taste) Kimchi, sliced radish Kimchi, young radish leaf Kimchi and radish water Kimchi.
Current issues which Kimchi industry are faced with are the slowdown of consumption pursuant to the increase of western diet and negative perception on Kimchi as salted food, instability of management due to instability of supply and price of raw agricultural products, difficulty of small and medium business entities' entry to packed Kimchi market which is mainly for large scale corporations, and vulnerability of R&D for new product development and standardization related infrastructure. it is anticipated that in the future Kimchi market Kimchi product market will grow instead of traditional Kimchi for winter, and the demand for new products which responds to the demand by diversified consumer layer will be increased. In accordance with globalization, Kimchi trade will be expanded, and there is big possibility that large scale corporation centered market structure will continue.
Vision of Kimchi industry was set as 'a key industry that supports future well-being food life' and 'the industrialization of Kimchi as health food and favorite food and the securing of international industrial competitiveness' was set as an objective. The development of consumer-oriented products, the establishment of stable raw materials base, the creation of infrastructure for R&D and standardization and the improvement of laws and systems were presented as priority tasks to accomplish the vision and objective. The following implementation strategy was established. First, the development of consumer-oriented products should be focused on high added value items such as the products with no chemical seasoning added and low sodium products and diversified raw materials should be used while developing tailored products for target markets for diversified consumer layers such as youth, women and the elderly and the weak. Second, contract based cultivation should be expanded to stabilize the supply of raw materials and curing and storage facilities should be expanded as well. We need to respond to the increase in demand for the products for school meals by expanding cyber trade, and price risk should be dispersed by utilizing the weighted index in which the prices of raw material vegetables for Kimchi were integrated. And also it is necessary to cultivate the breed of cabbage suitable for climate warming condition. Third, standard manuals for raw materials for Kimchi, recipe and manufacturing facilities should be developed and distributed while expanding the infrastructure for the development of technology of site demand type and R&D for Kimchi including the development of new materials and starter cultures and their uses for the fermentation adjustment. And also it is necessary to provide supports for the distribution of brief HACCP guideline to small and medium companies and the expansion of pertinent facilities to reinforce sanitation and safety management. Lastly, basic plan should be prepared and implemented pursuant to the enactment of 'Kimchi Industry Promotion Act' while seeking the method to include chili(chili powder) in the objects subject to the indication of the country of origin at restaurants in addition to cabbage. It is also necessary to intensify self-aid efforts of industry by introducing Self-Aid Fund System.

Researchers: Yong-Sun Lee, KyuEum Park.
E-mail address: jihchoi@krei.re.kr