Invest KOREA

Overview of the National Food Cluster

The construction of the National Food Cluster Support Center has been completed and the center has now gone into operation. The National Food Cluster boasts geographical advantages in terms of logistics and exports as it is located within 50 minutes of major transportation and industrial hubs such as the Gunsan Port, Gunsan Airport, and Saemangeum and has been established with the intention to be the best industrial complex for fostering food companies. Being connected through networks to domestic and foreign research institutes, including the adjacent Daedeok Research Complex, the Sejong Government Complex, and six national research institutes in the Jeonbuk Innovation City, the National Food Cluster is now officially the center of Korea’s food R&D. It is a national industrial complex specializing in food R&D established for the purpose of converting Korea’s food industry currently based on domestic demand into one more oriented on exports and of laying the foundation for the development of domestic agriculture and fisheries industries, and is expected to be the hub of the food industry in Northeast Asia.

Attraction of Investment to National Food Cluster

The National Food Cluster has introduced an R&D support system based on business demand and plans to provide support to businesses to solve their problems through analysis and research with focus on company-centered community activities and professional coordination functions. It will also continue to take part in and lead international joint R&D efforts to further strengthen the food R&D system. The Cluster will also provide the service of connecting companies based in the Cluster to local producers for stable supply of domestic agricultural products. In order to provide this service, the Cluster will build a system that surveys the demand of companies based in the Cluster for agricultural products and connects them to the relevant local production associations and corporations, etc. In particular, it is planned to link the information system of domestic agricultural production areas with the computer network of the National Food Cluster Support Center so that companies based in the Cluster can easily search for and obtain information on domestic food raw materials. The National Food Cluster Industrial Complex is divided into five zones based on the purpose of us—Industrial Facilities, R&D Facilities, Logistics Facilities, Business Support Facilities and Other Facilities—and each zone allows only companies falling into the types of business (e.g. food manufacturing business, beverage manufacturing business, or other related business) designated for each zone to move in. 

Benefits of Moving into the Foreign Investment Zone of the National Food Cluster

Foreign companies moving into the Foreign Investment Zone are eligible for reductions in national taxes, including the corporate tax and income tax, and for exemptions of certain local taxes, including the acquisition tax and property tax. Tariff exemptions are granted only for capital goods, and if certain requirements are met, they are eligible for a reduction in land rents and provision of employment subsidies and education and training subsidies. Moreover, the personnel management staff of the Support Center, the District Employment Office, Iksan-si, universities and companies will form a personnel sourcing council to provide personnel sourcing services to the foreign companies. Employment subsidies are provided under the co-employment support project of the Support Center and the concerned institution of the Ministry of Employment and Labor for up to one year for each employee and up to four years for a company.


*For more information on the National Food Cluster, please visit www.foodpolis.kr.
Source: Foodpolis, www.foodpolis.kr