Seoul, April 21 South Korea's exports of dried seaweed products, known as "gim" in Korean, reached an all-time high in the first quarter, driven by growing global demand for the food, data showed on Monday.
Outbound shipments of gim reached $281 million in the first three months of the year, up 21.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. The figure is the highest for any first quarter.
The volume of gim exports increased 7.5 percent on-year to 10,161 tons in the January-March period, reports Yonhap news agency.
"We expect to export more than $1 billion worth of gim products this year as the volume and value of outbound shipments are both on the rise," an official from the oceans ministry said.
The government earlier sought to reach the $1 billion mark by 2027. South Korea exported $997 million of gim products last year.
The oceans ministry attributed the strong exports to the popularity of Korean gim products in the United States and China, the world's two largest markets.
Gim exports to the U.S. rose 21.6 percent on-year to $57.9 million in the first quarter on robust demand for seasoned gim products.
Shipments to China spiked 86.5 percent to $51.1 million over the same period as gimbap, a Korean dish made from cooked rice and various fillings rolled in dried seaweed, gained popularity in the country.
South Korea's seafood exports moved up 1.2 percent from a year earlier in 2024, driven by the popularity of dried seaweed products.
Outbound shipments of seafood products came to $3.03 billion last year, up from $2.99 billion recorded in 2023.
The growth was primarily led by exports of dried seaweed, known as "gim" in Korean, which surged 25.8 percent on-year to a record high of $997 million.
Exports of tuna products grew 4.7 percent over the cited period, reaching $589 million.
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