S Korea's food, farm exports expand in May

South Korea's food and agricultural exports edged up slightly in May helped by a rise in overseas demand for fresh produce, the South Korean government said Wednesday. South Korea shipped US$660 million worth of farm products last month, up 1.0 percent from the same period last year, the South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries statement. The modest gain comes after outbound shipments contracted 7.8 percent in April to $620 million. The ministry said exports of fisheries products shot up 18.8 percent, with numbers for fresh farm produce gaining 6.0 percent. It, however, said processed food products such as instant noodles, biscuits and coffee mixes fell 9.3 percent on-year. The ministry said exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Taiwan, the European Union, Russia and the United States all grew, while shipments to Japan and China , the two biggest single markets , fell from the previous year. Shipments to Japan stood at $204.8 million last month, down 2 percent on-year. Exports to China and the United States reached $94.6 million and $55.6 million, respectively. In the first five months of this year, food and agricultural exports grew 5.3 percent on-year to $3.04 billion, it said.