The number of seafood items that can be used for transaction in the online wholesale market will be expanded from 60 to 134. The existing six-step seafood distribution route will be streamlined to four steps through production-area base distribution centers and consumption-area distribution centers.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries submitted a plan to improve the seafood distribution structure to the economic ministers' meeting on the 4th. Seafood goes through complex distribution stages such as wholesale markets after landing, leading to high distribution expenses and difficulty maintaining freshness, and there have been continued calls to improve the structure.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) set four key directions to address these issues: streamlining distribution routes, establishing new distribution routes, stabilizing supply chains, and enhancing transparency of digital-based distribution routes, and decided to pursue eight major tasks. Through this, it aims to cut the seafood distribution cost ratio by 10% by 2030 and ease price volatility for key seafood items to 25%.
First, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) will modernize aging production-area landing markets with low-temperature and eco-friendly facilities to maintain seafood quality and hygiene. It will expand production-area base distribution centers (FPC) and consumption-area distribution centers (FDC). Through this, it will simplify the existing six-step distribution route to four steps. The number of seafood items available for transaction in the online wholesale market will be significantly expanded to 134, more than doubling, and seller enrollment requirements will be eased to lower distribution expenses.
It will also introduce an online landing-sale system so that fishers can sell from onboard using mobile devices while returning to port after operations. Distribution expenses will also be reduced by shortening unloading, sorting, and auction processes at landing markets. In major metropolitan consumption areas, it will install seafood specialty direct-sale stores to improve access so consumers can purchase seafood from production areas.
To reinvigorate existing wholesale markets that are shrinking due to the activation of online distribution, a system will be established to enable real-time delivery from wholesale markets to restaurants. Tourism programs such as food culture and on-site experiences will also be introduced to boost consumption.
Alongside this, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) plans to stabilize the supply chain through data-based supply-demand management and smart innovation. To this end, it will reduce price volatility through climate change-responsive smart aquaculture and shift the paradigm to disaster damage prevention. By advancing supply-demand forecasting, it will derive and adjust the appropriate production aquaculture area and expand contract production.
In addition, it will lay the groundwork for dispersing volumes across wholesale markets to ease price volatility. It plans to secure consumer trust by expanding the catch certification system and the seafood traceability system. To expand participation by large retailers and fish farms in the traceability system, it will also revise subordinate statutes of the Act on the Management and Support of the Distribution of Fishery Products.