The South Korea Commercial Greenhouse Market is projected to expand from USD 320.9 million in 2026 to USD 452.3 million in 2031, exhibiting a CAGR of 7.1%.
The South Korean Commercial Greenhouse market is evolving from traditional protective horticulture into an advanced, technology-driven precision farming sector. This transformation is driven by structural economic and demographic factors. The market's strategic imperative is optimization, focused on maximizing crop yield and quality per unit of increasingly scarce land and labor.
This necessity is accelerated by government mandates that actively subsidize the integration of ICT into existing facilities. This effectively transforms the market into one primarily defined by systems integrators and specialized technology providers, rather than solely structural builders. Unlike open-field agriculture, the commercial greenhouse sector offers a year-round, consistent supply, directly addressing the volatility of conventional farming and inherent risks posed by extreme weather events.
Growth Drivers
The Korean government's Smart Farm promotion policy, including the Act on Fostering and Supporting Smart Farming, directly stimulates demand. It provides subsidized loans and financial support for farmers to adopt ICT-enabled facilities. This funding mitigates the high capital expenditure barrier, accelerating the replacement of low-tech structures with High-Tech Commercial Greenhouses.
Rapid urbanization and declining arable land also serve as structural catalysts. The continuous loss of agricultural land compels commercial growers to invest in high-density, controlled-environment agriculture to maintain output. This creates non-discretionary demand for advanced greenhouse systems. Furthermore, increasing consumer demand for premium, consistent-quality produce year-round (e.g., fresh strawberries in winter) necessitates climate-controlled environments that ensure reliability and superior product attributes for commercial growers.
Challenges and Opportunities
A significant challenge remains the high initial capital expenditure (CAPEX) associated with High-Tech Commercial Greenhouses. These systems incorporate complex technologies, such as CO2 enrichment and hybrid cooling. This financial barrier, even with government subsidies, constrains adoption among small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and presents a hurdle for new market entrants.
Another constraint is the high operational cost, particularly energy consumption for heating and cooling systems. These are required to maintain specific climate setpoints throughout the four distinct seasons of the Korean peninsula. The key opportunity lies in Energy-Efficient Technology Integration, specifically the development and standardization of Korean smart greenhouse models. These models should incorporate renewable energy sources (e.g., solar panels) and utilize advanced thermal management (hybrid cooling systems) to significantly reduce energy intensity, thereby lowering Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and enhancing farmer profitability.
Raw Material and Pricing Analysis
Commercial greenhouse pricing is intrinsically linked to global commodity markets for key raw materials. These include steel, aluminum, and various polymers. Steel and aluminum are critical for the frame construction of gutter-connected and high-tech structures, making their prices sensitive to international tariffs and global production shifts.
Polyethylene film and other specialty plastics used for glazing dominate the low-tech segment. Their costs are governed by petrochemical price volatility. Filtered glass and polycarbonate sheets, utilized in high-tech facilities, carry a premium cost due to specialized manufacturing and enhanced durability requirements.
The high cost of these imported and commodity materials, combined with a reliance on specialized foreign-made components (e.g., control valves, high-efficiency fans), introduces significant cost pressure into the final CAPEX of the greenhouse structure. This necessitates higher financing requirements for growers.
Supply Chain Analysis
The South Korean commercial greenhouse supply chain is characterized by a dual dependency: domestic fabrication for low-to-medium-tech structures and international sourcing for advanced components. Structural components (steel frames, plastic films) are often sourced and fabricated domestically, led by local builders such as Bokyung Greenhouses Ltd. However, the core of the High-Tech segment, including sophisticated Environmental Control Systems (e.g., precision sensors, automated vents, specialized heaters), often relies on imports from leading agricultural technology hubs in the Netherlands and Israel.
This dependency on foreign technology creates supply chain risks related to foreign currency fluctuation, intellectual property licensing, and long lead times for specialized parts. Domestic companies must integrate these high-cost imported technologies. This requires sophisticated local system integrators to manage complex logistics from component import to on-site assembly and calibration.
Jurisdiction | Key Regulation / Agency | Market Impact Analysis |
South Korea | Act on Fostering and Supporting Smart Farming (2025 Master Plan) / MAFRA | The Act mandates strategic and systematic fostering of smart farming. It directly increases demand for High-Tech Commercial Greenhouse components by providing financial subsidies and low-interest loans for technology adoption (e.g., ICT facilities, environmental controls). |
South Korea | Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Centre (GIR) / NDC Commitment | South Korea's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for CO2 reduction, managed by GIR, drives demand for energy-efficient greenhouses and technologies. These include LED lighting and hybrid cooling, by encouraging the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Agriculture sector. |
South Korea | Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) / Energy Efficiency Policies | MOTIE’s mandates for enhancing industrial energy efficiency indirectly increase demand for High-Tech components that offer superior thermal retention and reduced consumption (e.g., specialized glazing and automated thermal screens). This mitigates rising utility costs for growers. |
By Component: High-Tech Commercial Greenhouse
The High-Tech Commercial Greenhouse segment represents the primary growth vector. It is defined by the integration of sophisticated components that enable precise, autonomous environmental management. The demand for these components is a direct function of the imperative for crop quality and yield maximization.
The Heating System sub-segment, encompassing high-efficiency heaters, precise valves, and automated vents, experiences high demand. South Korea’s cold winters necessitate continuous, regulated heat to ensure crop survival and year-round production of high-value fruits like strawberries. Similarly, the Cooling System sub-segment (fans, cooling pad systems) is critical for managing summer heat and humidity, which can otherwise induce disease and reduce photosynthetic efficiency.
A specific growth driver is the real-time data feedback loop. ICT sensors continuously monitor temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels, generating demand for compatible, responsive, and durable control hardware. This hardware must execute immediate, highly accurate adjustments to maintain the optimal microclimate setpoints required by high-density crops.
By Application: Fruits and Vegetables
The Fruits and Vegetables application segment constitutes the market’s volume and value foundation. Significant greenhouse area is dedicated to fruit-bearing crops such as paprika, tomatoes, and strawberries. Domestic consumer preference for fresh, locally-sourced produce, combined with the necessity to manage extreme seasonal price volatility, drives its demand.
Open-field farming cannot reliably supply these crops, particularly during winter or periods of adverse weather (e.g., typhoons, droughts). The commercial greenhouse structure addresses this by guaranteeing a stable supply chain, a critical concern for retailers and food service companies. For growers, the economic incentive is clear: high-value crops grown in controlled environments command premium prices in the domestic market, justifying substantial CAPEX. This profit imperative compels growers to continuously upgrade to more sophisticated systems that enhance quality metrics, such as Brix levels or uniformity, further concentrating demand in the High-Tech component segment.
The South Korean Commercial Greenhouse Market exhibits a competitive structure segmented by technological capability. The landscape includes established domestic greenhouse builders providing structural solutions, often catering to low- and medium-tech facilities. A growing segment of companies focuses on integrating advanced Smart Farm ICT and environmental control systems. Competition centers on leveraging government subsidies for smart farm development, optimizing energy efficiency in climate control, and providing integrated, user-friendly control software tailored to specific high-value Korean crops.
Bokyung Greenhouses Ltd.
Bokyung Greenhouses Ltd. holds a strategic position as an established domestic builder. The company specializes in the construction of various commercial greenhouse types, including gutter-connected and freestanding structures. Their focus is on robust engineering solutions that utilize standardized structural components and materials suitable for the Korean climate.
Their strategic positioning involves partnering with technology providers to integrate necessary ICT components, such as sensors and control boards, into their established physical structures. This offers a full-service construction-to-integration model, appealing directly to farmers seeking to utilize government Smart Farm funding for modernization. Bokyung’s key strength is its domestic presence and experience in navigating local construction and agricultural regulations.
Nam Kyung Co., Ltd.
Nam Kyung Co., Ltd. primarily focuses on core components for micro-irrigation and fertigation systems. These are essential for maximizing efficiency in both medium- and high-tech commercial greenhouses. Their product portfolio prominently features irrigation solutions, such as their best-selling drip tape, and related components like PE pipes, fundamental to hydroponic and soil-based controlled horticulture.
The company’s strategic leverage is its specialization in water and nutrient delivery precision. This directly addresses the demand-centric requirement for water conservation and optimized nutrient uptake. This specialization positions them as a critical supplier within the High-Tech segment, where precision in every input is essential for high-yield, high-quality objectives.
FarmHannong Co., Ltd.
FarmHannong Co., Ltd. is positioned as a comprehensive agricultural solutions provider. The company leverages its parent company's (LG Chem) chemical expertise to offer an integrated approach to crop production within the greenhouse environment. While not primarily a greenhouse builder, its strategic relevance stems from its focus on high-quality seeds, crop protection products, and specialized fertilizers required for intensive greenhouse cultivation.
By offering integrated solutions that combine superior crop inputs with smart farming technologies, FarmHannong addresses the holistic needs of the grower. This helps them achieve the higher yields and premium quality required to justify the substantial investment in High-Tech Commercial Greenhouses.
February 2025: The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) implemented the 2025–2029 Master Plan for Smart-Farming. This policy includes doubling specialized vocational education institutes from two to four in 2025 and increasing the Smart-Farming General Fund to extend low-interest loans for ICT equipment to fruit crops and vertical farms. This directly drives technological demand.
October 2024: The Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, and Forestry (IPET) and KosFarm officially launched a collaborative Smart Greenhouse and Plant Factory development project in Indonesia. The facility features a Venlo-type structure with hybrid cooling and CO2 enrichment, demonstrating an exportable standardized Korean smart greenhouse model and capacity addition for international technology transfer.
| Report Metric | Details |
|---|---|
| Total Market Size in 2025 | USD 320.9 million |
| Total Market Size in 2031 | USD 452.3 million |
| Forecast Unit | Billion |
| Growth Rate | 7.1% |
| Study Period | 2020 to 2031 |
| Historical Data | 2020 to 2023 |
| Base Year | 2024 |
| Forecast Period | 2025 – 2031 |
| Segmentation | Type, Component, Application |
| Companies |
|
By Type
Free Standing
Gutter Connected
By Component
High-Tech Commercial Greenhouse
Heating System
Heaters
Valves
Vents
Others
Cooling System
Fans
Cooling Pad Systems
Medium-Tech Commercial Greenhouse
Heaters
Cooling Pads
Thermostats
Exhaust Fans
Others
Low-Tech Greenhouse
By Application
Fruits and Vegetables
Flowers and Ornamentals
Nursery Crops