Megaplan is a corporations that mass-produces live mackerel through year-round spawning technology. Chief Executive Yoo Cheol-won founded the company in 2019. Yoo, a former engineer at Samsung Heavy Industries, worked 10 years in onshore architecture and 10 years in offshore architecture. Yoo then founded Megaplan and developed and sold a system that allows users to experience all pre-construction phases, from building design to construction, through Virtual Reality (VR). Although it logged sales of about 2.3 billion won in 2022, it shifted its business to mackerel aquaculture in 2023 due to a downturn in the construction market.
Mackerel is a species that is difficult to farm worldwide. They are usually caught at sea using a pair trawling method, and in parts of Jeju and Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang, farmers practice cage aquaculture by installing nets in the sea to catch juveniles and grow them out.
Yoo said that in May last year, the company became the second in the world after Japan to succeed in artificial spawning of mackerel and is mass-producing mackerel. Megaplan is currently raising 200,000 mackerel at an indoor farm in Jeju.
Yoo said, "With problems such as rising sea surface temperatures and pollution, it is expected to become increasingly difficult to raise mackerel in the ocean," adding, "Land-based indoor house aquaculture will become more important."
Yoo achieved the world's first year-round artificial spawning of mackerel in December last year. Yoo said, "Previously, mackerel were artificially spawned once a year in June, but we can control light and water temperature so they can spawn year-round, including in winter." Yoo added, "We can supply mackerel to the market in line with consumption, as much as consumers want."
The domestic mackerel market is divided into sashimi-grade fish distributed live and those frozen immediately after capture for grilling. Yoo is first targeting the sashimi-grade live mackerel market. The current market size for sashimi-grade live mackerel is about 3,000 tons a year. Yoo plans to grow this market to the size of the flatfish (40,000 tons) and salmon (70,000 tons) markets, which Korean consumers enjoy as sashimi.
Megaplan is looking at sales of at least 2 billion won next year. Yoo plans to build a new farm in South Gyeongsang to increase production. The company will target not only the domestic market but also overseas markets for grilling mackerel. The domestic market for grilled mackerel is 1 trillion won, and the global market reaches 20 trillion won. The company is currently preparing to enter the markets in Japan, Vietnam and Morocco. In particular, Japan's mackerel consumption is about three times higher than Korea. Preference for Korean products is also high due to the Fukushima issue.
Yoo plans to pursue a pricing strategy in the grilling market. The current raw material price for grilling mackerel traded in the global market is about $1.70. Yoo plans to bring the price to around $1 by 2030. To that end, the company is also advancing its mackerel aquaculture technology.
Yoo said, "We will monitor the entire mackerel life cycle from egg to adult, build data, and apply AI technology to raise mackerel in optimal conditions," adding, "We are currently cooperating with domestic universities." Yoo went on to say, "We will change the global distribution paradigm for mackerel."
Yoo said, "Because we conduct indoor aquaculture after artificial spawning of mackerel, we can not only adjust nutrition, such as increasing fat content, but also control taste, and we have price competitiveness."