Korean “Nongshim” to export smart farms to Saudi Arabia

Today, Monday, “Nongshim” company announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to export smart farms to Saudi Arabia.

According to the Korean Yonhap Agency, the company has formed a consortium with the companies “Bumet”, “Agro Solution Korea” and “MS”, with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korean Trade and Investment Agency (KOTRA).

The federation plans to establish a joint venture with the Saudi Company for Greenhouses Management and Agricultural Marketing to grow Korean strawberries and to build at least 5 smart commercial strawberry farms near Riyadh by the second half of next year. It is expected that the production volume will reach 30 tons per month.

The federation plans to build smart farms in Saudi Arabia, which can produce Korean varieties of strawberries all year round, and to start trial production of strawberries this year.

The total project size is $30 million, and Nongshim plans to create new job opportunities worth more than $100 million with high value-added crops in the future.

In November last year, the company exported the container-type smart farm for the first time to the Sultanate of Oman and entered the global markets.

The Saudi company, which has 9 farms across Saudi Arabia, has information about the local market, expertise in agriculture, strong financing and distribution network, which will create synergy between the two sides.

“We will develop the smart farm project as a new growth engine for our company,” said an official at the “Nongshim” company.

“We will work actively to solve difficulties in this field through cooperation with the relevant ministries, and contribute to increasing exports,” said Yang Ki-mo, head of COTRA’s office in the Middle East.