The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises said on the 22nd that it held the "2026 first food industry committee" at KBIZ in Yeouido, Seoul.
The food industry committee was launched to share major pending issues such as expanding overseas markets for K-food and manufacturing innovation including the AI transition of the food industry, and to identify policy tasks to strengthen industrial competitiveness. The chairperson is Kim Gap-on, chair of the Yeosu Food Processing Business Cooperative.
At the meeting, Min Geun-sik, CEO of Haedamsol, a company specializing in the production of seasoned laver, presented a case study on introducing a smart factory and outlined digital transformation outcomes such as improving production processes and advancing quality control.
Since building its smart factory, Haedamsol's sales increased about 2.5 times, from 2.6 billion won in 2023 to 6.5 billion won in 2025, and it achieved results in expanding export markets from China- and U.S.-centered to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Vietnam.
Next, Jeong Jun-jae, head of the K-food department at Korea National Food Cluster, introduced the status of the national food cluster, support programs for corporations, and key infrastructure, and explained ways to support corporations.
The roundtable also continued discussions on the business environment and policy tasks facing the food industry. Attending commissioners agreed that to sustain the global growth of K-food, Korea should expand support for providing country-specific certification and customs clearance information and for localization.
They also suggested that it is necessary to strengthen support for manufacturing innovation, such as building smart factories, to improve productivity and quality, which underpin export competitiveness. They shared business difficulties facing the food industry, including rising prices of raw and subsidiary materials, labor shortages on production sites, and regulations by business type, and discussed ways to improve systems.
Kim Gap-on, chairperson of the KBIZ food industry committee, said, "The food industry is an essential industry responsible for what people eat and, at the same time, a key driver of K-food growth," adding, "The committee will not only check key issues in a timely manner and draw up effective response strategies, but also identify system improvement tasks that reflect voices from the field so they can be actively incorporated into government policy."