Research on Structural Change of Korean Agricultural Products Market
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Yoon Seok-Gon 
Published: June 2018

With distribution conditions of agricultural products production areas and consumption areas rapidly changing, relative importance of wholesale market distribution has decreased. However, in spite of change in distribution of production areas and consumption areas, wholesale markets play an important role. Therefore, wholesale markets will be expected to be balanced with other distributors. That is, despite change in a distribution circumstance, suppliers and retailers need to have wholesale markets. This study examined current status of domestic agricultural products distribution and change in wholesale market structure and suggested how to solve those challenges in line with changing distribution situation. Agricultural products distribution market of Korea is composed of public wholesale markets established by chief executives of local governments, private wholesale markets established by individuals, joint markets established by Nonghyup and similar wholesale markets. However, similar wholesale markets were the most common type until 1970s but public wholesale markets have been constructed from 1980s since Act on the Marketing and Price Stabilization of Agricultural and Marine Products was established in 1976. Traditionally, major customers of agricultural products in Korea are collectors of production sites and transaction of agricultural products has been performed in accordance with premodern transaction practices. However, as a distribution circumstance changes, transaction of agricultural products shows that occupancy of wholesale markets and middle wholesale markets has decreased every year. In addition, requirements for producers include uniformity of products, freshness, high quality and ability to supply products. Moreover, production sites require certain jobs so that customers can buy their desired products directly from production sites. In short, wholesale markets must reflect these requirements and respond to their structural changes aggressively.
When putting the influence the third change in the international society exerts on a agricultural product marketing section in order, it seems to be the next. When foreign agricultural produce import expands, there is a fear that domestic agricultural produce production shrinks. The previous phenomenon is accelerationized by agreement of agricultural negotiations, and there are domestic subsidy reduction and a fear that a possibility of the fluctuation of price of relevant agricultural produce will rise further by decrease of political support to a price quiet temple trade in particular. A safety problem of import agricultural produce is raised. A market of domestic agricultural produce distribution industry company can eat a silkworm by foreign large-scale distribution industry company's and agricultural produce Major's and others going into the country by a service industry and opening in a domestic capital market. A new distribution business system increases a discount store at the retail stage, and retail trade trunk competition gets intensified.