South Korea’s seafood exports hit an all-time high in 2025, driven by a surge in sales of gim – an edible seaweed product.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), the nation exported USD 3.3 billion (EUR 2.8 billion) worth of seafood products last year, a 9.7 percent year-over-year increase.
"The export performance of seafood products in 2025 demonstrates that the competitiveness of Korean seafood products is continuously strengthening even amid uncertainties in the international trade environment,” Acting South Korea Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Seong-beom said in a release.
Gim was the nation’s top seafood export, making up roughly one-third of South Korea’s seafood exports by value at USD 1.1 billion (EUR 930 million). That figure represents an all-time high and an increase of 13.7 percent over 2024. MOF attributed the growing exports to the popularity of “the Korean Wave” and producers’ efforts to tailor their offerings to overseas consumers’ tastes.
"Korea's gim exports ... are meaningful because they were achieved through the policy support of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries combined with the innovative capabilities of private companies. Going forward, the ministry will continue to support the seaweed industry and do its best to enhance the international competitiveness of Korean seafood products including gim," former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Chun Jae-soo said in December.
Other seafood exports to see growth in 2025 were toothfish, which rose 6.4 percent to USD 80 million (EUR 68 million); flounder, which rose 9 percent to USD 60 million (EUR 51 million); and crabmeat, which rose 7.5 percent to USD 30 million (EUR 25 million).
“Going forward, we will actively support the sustained growth of the seafood export industry by strategically fostering promising export items such as gim and expanding the export base to include not only key markets like Japan, China, and the United States but also emerging markets such as Europe and the Middle East," Kim said.
