Invest KOREA

Four to five times larger in size than the automobile and IT sectors, the food industry is being recognized in developed countries as a new growth engine. The National Food Cluster Industrial Complex was established to strategically foster the food industry as a new growth engine of the 21st century and to make Korea a hub of the Northeast Asian food market. Food manufacturing and related businesses can operate in the complex, and 190 companies have moved in as of Q1 2023. With 116,000㎡ inside the complex designated for foreign investors, the complex has the conditions to rise as a global industrial complex specializing in food.

According to the 4th Master Plan for the Promotion of the Food Industry announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in June 2023, the National Food Cluster will be transformed into a multi-purpose complex for food and culture by adding cultural functions such as creating food culture experience facilities to its existing manufacturing functions. The transformation is expected to enhance the sustainability of the food industry and strengthen its global competitiveness. Moreover, the government plans to leverage the corporate support facilities (12 locations) of the National Food Cluster in providing online and offline services to food companies operating in industrial complexes around the country so that they can function as a base for supporting the food industry. .

In March 2023, the Iksan National Food Cluster Phase 2 Industrial Complex was selected as a candidate site for a National High-tech Industrial Complex. Phase 2 will be built in an area of 2,070,000 ㎡ by 2028, and the complex will focus on nurturing promising industries such as alternative foods and medicinal foods by laying the foundation for food-tech technologies, which are enabled by combining ICT with the production, processing, distribution, and service processes of the traditional food industry. In addition, the plan is to create a full-cycle ecosystem for the food industry in connection with the existing twelve R&D facilities that support food businesses. Once Phase 2 is fully operational, it is expected to achieve various synergistic effects with the existing Phase 1.