Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Contribution Journey of Korean strawberries around the world
Deputy Administrator at the Rural Development Administration (RDA) Yun Jong-chul / Courtesy of RDA
By Lee Kyung-min
By Yun Jong-chul
I remember buying tons of strawberries in a red basket at the market as a child. I remember popping two or three strawberries into my mouth at once because of the small size of each strawberry. I remember eating them a day after I bought them, half of them shriveled up, and some were so sour that I had to sprinkle sugar on them.
But now, Korean strawberries are recognized as the finest not only in Korea but also around the world. Korean strawberry exports have increased more than 13-fold from $4.4 million in 2005 to $58.8 million in 2022.
Exports showcase the excellence of Korean strawberries to overseas markets and support domestic strawberry prices, increasing the incomes of farmers.
How did Korean strawberries, which were once difficult to export, due to their extremely perishable nature, come to the point where they are dominating the international market?
Nicknamed the fruit of empresses for their cute shape, sweet and sour flavor, and fragrance, strawberries have been sacred throughout history and have been used for medicinal and ornamental purposes as well as for food.
Strawberries, as we know them today, were created by the hybridization in Europe of a variant from Chile, South America, and a variant from the United States.
Strawberries were first introduced to Korea from Japan in the early 20th century, and cultivation was gradually established. After intense efforts to develop domestic varieties, the Seolhyang variety was cultivated by an agricultural agency in 2005.
Seolhyang played a key role in raising the localization rate of strawberry varieties from 9.2 percent in 2005 to 97.8 percent in 2022 based on its excellent taste. However, Seolhyang has relatively low storability despite its other excellent characteristics, so Kumsil with firm flesh and excellent storability was developed as an export-exclusive variety. Geumseul, another variety, has an extended freshness period and currently accounts for more than 46 percent of strawberry exports.
Furthermore, varieties such as Jookhyang, Kingsberry, Highberry and Alta King have been developed, each with its own appeal in terms of hardness, sugar content, size and flesh texture, seamlessly meeting the demands of the global market, which is fragmented in terms of various characteristics.
The overseas market, which has responded enthusiastically to the excellent characteristics of Korean strawberry varieties, is not satisfied and is constantly demanding better quality ones.
The flesh of strawberries affects the shelf life of exported strawberries, so to make the flesh firmer and reduce the incidence of powdery mildew, which directly affects quality, the technology of cultivating chlorella and spraying it on strawberries has been developed and popularized.
Bee control technology to increase the lifespan of bees that help fertilize strawberries was also developed to increase the proportion of normal strawberry fruit. Additionally, a combined carbon dioxide and chlorine dioxide treatment technology to compensate for the shortcomings of strawberries that shrivel during air transportation was produced to maintain the best possible condition.
According to the agreement of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), support for agricultural export logistics costs can no longer be continued as of 2024. Strawberry exports have been growing steadily via air transportation, however, CA Container shipping technology was developed to address this cost issue.
CA Containers regulate the atmospheric environment such as temperature, humidity, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Because of this, compared to conventional container transportation, a strawberry's decay rate is reduced by more than 50 percent, and the texture and flavor remain the same.
Another important feature is that logistics costs can be reduced by 70 percent or less compared to air exports. Recently, Korea started exporting strawberries with this CA technology to Hong Kong, and in the future, this will be expanded to ship exports to countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.
As Korean strawberries are of the highest quality, we have been steadily exporting and have won the hearts of the world. Some countries that want to import Korean strawberry varieties and grow them locally.
We plan to maximize the performance of agricultural exports by exporting strawberry varieties and technologies and agricultural materials that can be cultivated according to the exporting country's environment. This plan focuses on countries where there is no possibility of competition with Korean strawberries due to their different cropping season.
In the future, we will further expand the scale of technology exports by identifying varieties and cultivation practices that are suitable for each country.
The path of Korean strawberries to the world is a history of facing and taking on challenges. Breaking the stereotype that small and quickly shriveling strawberries cannot be exported, it has been possible to export strawberries thanks to constant technological development efforts to solve problems.
The Rural Development Administration (RDA) will spare no effort in ensuring that Korea's agricultural produce will pioneer the global market and win the hearts of the world.
The writer is deputy administrator at the Rural Development Administration