Korea's food processing industry relies heavily on imports to fulfill its food and agricultural needs in order to manufacture a wide variety of food and beverage products. Given this demand, there is ample opportunity for imported agricultural products for processing use including bulk commodities such as wheat, intermediate ingredients such as fruit juice concentrates, and many other products, such as flavors and coloring agents. In 2022, the food processing industry generated over 81 trillion Korean Won (approximately $63.3 billion) in sales.

As the 5th largest country export market for the United States, Korea provides a promising market for U.S. agricultural products. In 2022, Korea imported about $50 billion agricultural and food products from all over the world and the U.S. supplied a fifth of it, ranking number one. Other key suppliers were China, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam, and Thailand. This year, Korea's overall agricultural imports are forecast to fall short of the 2022 value by 10 percent partly due to decreased demand from both the retail and processing sectors. From January to October, the U.S. exports fell below the level of last year’s record for the same period, primarily driven by reductions in grain, feed, frozen beef, and dairy product exports. However, U.S. food and agricultural products will continue to be competitive in this market in the long run considering extended consumer interests in quality, safety, and sustainability.

Korean seafood imports totaled $6.47 billion in 2022, up 12.7 percent from the year before. Seafood for human consumption imported from the United States to Korea in 2022 reached $229 million, an increase of 5.6 percent year-to-year. The United States remains the fifth largest seafood exporter to Korea with a 3.5 percent market share. Korean consumers generally see U.S. fishery products as high-quality and unpolluted, but regional competitors often have lower prices.

Korea Seafood Market Update 2023_Seoul ATO_Korea - Republic of_KS2023-0017 

Domestic production is projected to drop to 1.93 million tons in 2023 after reaching 1.98 million tons in 2021. Milk production is expected to show a downward trend due to the decreasing number of dairy farms, decreasing number of milk cows, and falling demand coinciding with the falling birth rate. On the other hand, cheese consumption, as well as demand for other dairy products such as cream and butter, is gradually increasing due to evolving tastes as well as increased awareness of the healthy proteins in dairy products. However, imports in 2023 may experience an unusual drop due to high inflation and the weakening Korean won exchange rate, particularly against the U.S. dollar.

In 2021 (latest data available), sales of the HRI food service sector reached 150.76 trillion KRW (131.7 billion USD), an increase of 7.77 percent from 2020 and an increase of 4.41 percent from 2019. Coping with the pandemic, Korea’s HRI food service sector has tried to adopt modern technologies and come up with strategies for safe and convenient dining experience to meet changing demand from consumers. Since pandemic related restrictions have been lifted and consumer demand for diverse food and dining options is increasing, it is expected that the HRI sector will show a constant growth though at a slow pace due to the sluggish local economy.