Importing fresh fruit and shrimp into South Korea: what a commercial buyer must check

Korea separates food safety, plant or aquatic-animal health, and customs. Each step has its own documents, and the supplier's registration must be in place before the importer can declare.

MFDS states that an import declaration cannot be made for a product from an unregistered site. For fresh fruit and vegetables the registered unit is the packing location; for shrimp and fish it is the foreign food facility that produces or processes the product. Either the importer or the facility operator registers it; for fishery products from countries with a sanitary agreement, the application is made through that country's government.

In practice, ask every supplier for the registered name and number of the packhouse or plant that will pack your product, and make sure it matches the commercial documents.

Since 1 January 2019 the Positive List System (PLS) has applied to all agricultural products in Korea. A pesticide that has no Korean maximum residue limit for that crop is held to 0.01 mg/kg. Growers who follow another market's spray programme can exceed Korean limits even when they meet those of their usual markets.

Ask for residue results tested against Korean limits for the crop, and for the spray record of the orchards that will supply your programme.

For fishery products from countries with which Korea has a seafood sanitary agreement, MFDS requires a health certificate issued by the exporting country's authority with the import declaration. The government distinguishes this sanitary certificate, which concerns Korean food-safety standards, from the NFQS quarantine certificate, which concerns aquatic-animal diseases.

NFQS states that imported fishery products and products made from them must show the country of origin at customs clearance under the Foreign Trade Act — on the package or, for unpackaged goods, at the point of sale.

Fresh fruit and vegetables are subject to plant quarantine by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. Whether a fruit may be imported from a given origin, and under which conditions, is set per origin and product. We could not open APQA's fruit import-condition pages when this guide was reviewed, so it lists no origins: confirm the current condition for your fruit and origin with APQA or your customs broker before you plan a programme, and ask the exporter which condition its orchard and packhouse operate under.

Recorded imports show where an established trade already exists. They are past trade values by HS code — not demand forecasts, stock or prices.

• Product, variety or species, grade, size or count, and fresh, chilled or frozen
• The registered packing location or foreign food facility the supplier will use
• Residue results against Korean limits and the orchard spray record (fruit)
• Health certificate for agreement-country seafood, and whether an NFQS quarantine certificate also applies
• Plant-quarantine condition for the fruit and origin, confirmed with APQA or your broker
• Country-of-origin labelling, Korean label text and pack format
• Port of entry, arrival weeks, Incoterms® rule and named place, and who files the declaration

Our team turns these points into one reviewed request and approaches suitable suppliers on your behalf. Buyers pay nothing; sourcing programmes start from USD 250,000 per year or season, and every requirement is confirmed per shipment rather than assumed.