3 months of job ads, 0 applicants.These are the last hands.
The moment you boil, the value evaporates
Pre-cooking by boiling destroys the value of the raw material and forces you into a price war in a red ocean. With a structural labor shortage on top of that, HPP is the only way out.
20%
MOISTURE LOSS
Boil it and everything drains away
Boiling costs 15–20% of the moisture, destroys nutrients and degrades texture. 20 kg of raw material shrinks to 15 kg of boiled meat. HPP is non-thermal: high retention of moisture, nutrition and texture, and 18–20 kg kept.
70%
RED OCEAN
Boiling has already lost its market
Products made by boiling hold a 70% share and face an endless price war with imports. It is a structure where you dump product at 30% of the raw material price. However hard you work, nothing is left.
6,000
AGING WORKERS
In 5 years there will be no shuckers left
About 6,000 shuckers remain nationwide, with an average age in the 60s to 70s. Even at KRW 100,000–200,000 per day, the labor shortage is acute. A skilled worker handles 100 kg per day, versus 30–40 kg for an older worker. The workforce structure is continuing to deteriorate.
100%
RAW QUALITY
What only non-thermal makes possible
HPP opens the raw market, which boiling cannot reach. A reported 96–100% automatic shucking rate and shelf life extended up to 4×. Inactivating Vibrio and norovirus makes export possible. Korea's oyster export target is USD 160 million by 2030.
Same raw material, different value
Process the same raw material by boiling and it sells cheap; process it with HPP and it sells at a premium. The two markets are structured completely differently.
70%
Oversupplied market
Boiling (pre-cooked) market
A price war with imports, and a high-volume low-margin structure that recovers only 30% of the raw material's value.
<1%
Premium monopoly
The HPP raw shucked market
Short supply keeps prices premium. A blue ocean only holders of HPP technology can enter.
Labor cost down 85%, yield up 25%
Just 6 people handle the work of 40 shuckers (skilled shucking workers). The hiring problem disappears and net profit climbs.
40
SKILLED WORKERS
Hand shucking (shuckers)
6
SIMPLE STAFF
HPP automated process
The future of seafood processing that HPP is building
Is your plant idle again this year for want of people?
6,000 shuckers nationwide, averaging 60 to 70 years old. The skilled workers are going and labor costs are soaring. Shucking fees keep rising while skilled workers keep disappearing.
HPP will not let you down
The labor of 40 skilled shuckers compressed into 1 machine and 6 people. Reported 96–100% shucking rate and reduced quality variation.
Labor cost 85% DOWN · yield 25% UP
Shelf life extended 4×. The labor cost you save comes straight back as your net profit. Put what is left into growing the business.
Do not boil it — the profit drains away too!
Take the profit you would make on 3 tons of shellfish sold after boiling from just 1 ton of HPP raw shucked meat.
Start HPP contract processing now
Our Suncheon HPP facility processes 19 seafood species with precision. A free consultation gets you an HPP solution built for your company.