Taste of Diversity: Immigrant Contributions to South Korea's Agri-Food Market

Immigration is posited to enhance trade diversity; however, empirical evidence supporting this relationship remains scarce, especially within the realm of migrant populations and their impact on the agri-food sector. This study is the first to focus on South Korea—a country that has experienced a significant influx of immigrants in recent decades and has traditionally been viewed as mono-ethnic, thus having substantial potential for food diversification. We also introduce “variety” as a measure of diversity, commonly used in the trade–welfare nexus, to examine the impact of immigrants on agri-food imports diversity. Using data from 2009 to 2021 for all the trading partners of South Korea in the agri-food sector, we applied System Generalized Method of Moments estimation within a gravity model framework. The results show that immigrants significantly enhance both agri-food import values and varieties in South Korea. Additionally, immigrants from regions with similar dietary cultures tend to have a lesser impact on agri-food imports.