South Korea: The secret to exporting is a stable supply of high-quality persimmons

“The secret to exporting is to provide a stable supply of persimmons of uniform quality, and this is the goal we will continue to pursue in the future.” This is what Lee Sang-deuk, the head of Dong-eup Agricultural Cooperative in Changwon, Gyeongnam, which focuses on persimmon exports, said. Dong-eup Agricultural Cooperative has been exporting persimmons to Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Canada, etc. since the 2000s, and has been working to diversify its export markets. In particular, the head of the cooperative cited ‘uniform quality’ as the reason for expanding exports to Canada, which has a long logistics period of 45 days. “Since the early 2000s when we started exporting persimmons, we have operated a separate joint selection team and have been selecting persimmons according to a strict manual,” he said. Dong-eup Agricultural Cooperative’s strict selection management has given confidence to overseas buyers. Park Byeong-eun, managing director of Dong-eup Agricultural ...