Korea’s bio-industry production hits ₩22.9 trillion

up 10% YoY

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy releases ‘2025 Bioindustry Survey’

Bio Exports, including antibody drugs and CMO, rise 17%

R&D investment up 3%, large-scale facility investment up 145%

Last year, the domestic bio industry's production scale reached KRW 22.9216 trillion, a 9.8% increase compared to the previous year.

 

Exports rose 17.1% year-on-year, driven by existing key export items such as antibody drugs and CMO for biopharmaceuticals.

 

R&D investment increased by 3.2%.

 

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, in collaboration with the Korea Biotechnology Industry Association, announced the results of the ‘2025 Domestic Bioindustry Status Survey’ on the 11th.

 

The survey includes the status of production, exports/imports, employment, and investment in the bio industry as of 2024.

 

According to the survey results, the domestic bio industry's production scale reached KRW 22.9216 trillion, a 9.8% increase compared to the previous year.

 

By year, the figures were KRW 17.1983 trillion in 2020, KRW 21.3971 trillion in 2021, KRW 23.8160 trillion in 2022, and KRW 20.8713 trillion in 2023, showing a sustained high average annual growth rate of 7.4% over the last 5 years.

 

The biopharmaceutical sector holds the largest share of production scale.

 

As of 2024, the biopharmaceutical sector's production scale reached KRW 8.4305 trillion, accounting for 36.8% of the total biotechnology industry production scale.

 

This is followed by the bio-food sector (including health functional foods and fermented foods) at 20.0%, and the bio-service sector (including contract manufacturing and bio-analysis) at 17.4%.

 

The production scale of the biopharmaceutical sector increased by 33.2% from KRW 6.3313 trillion in 2023.

 

By specific product category, therapeutic antibodies and cytokine preparations led the production expansion, growing 53.7% year-on-year to KRW 4.8645 trillion.

 

Additionally, biomanufacturing and contract services recorded KRW 3.2179 trillion, a 5.2% increase from the previous year.

 

Biotech exports grew by 17.1% from KRW 11.7081 trillion in 2023 to KRW 13.7109 trillion in 2024.

 

During the same period, imports increased by 10.4% from KRW 3.3452 trillion to KRW 3.6917 trillion.

 

Growth in the biopharmaceutical sector was particularly notable in exports.

 

Biopharmaceutical exports, which were KRW 4.2978 trillion in 2023, increased by 46.0% to KRW 6.2740 trillion last year.

 

Therapeutic antibodies and cytokine preparations, in particular, showed an increase of KRW 1.5939 trillion won over one year.

 

The workforce in the biotech industry reached 65,818 people in 2024, a 1.5% increase from the previous year.

 

Compared to 52,297 people in 2020, this represents an average annual growth rate of 5.9% over the past 5 years.

 

By job type, research positions increased by 1.8% from 19,432 to 19,877.

 

Production roles grew by 1.9% from 21,746 to 22,151.

 

Sales, management, and other positions rose by 0.8% to 23,879.

 

Total investment in 2024 reached KRW 5.4821 trillion, a 46.1% increase compared to KRW 3.752 trillion in 2023.

 

During this period, R&D expenses rose 3.2% from KRW 2.6188 trillion to KRW 2.7024 trillion, while facility investment costs surged approximately 2.5-fold from KRW 1.1332 trillion to KRW 2.7797 trillion.

 

Woo-hyuk Choi, Director-General for Advanced Industry Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated, “Despite the uncertain global trade environment, the bio industry is recovering its growth momentum.

 

We will strengthen support for companies to boost their R&D, production, and exports so that the sector can make an even greater contribution to our economy and employment.”