South Korea's small and mid-sized ready-mixed concrete firms are searching for survival strategies to cope with shifts in their industry, including the push for carbon neutrality and the transition to artificial intelligence.
The Korea Ready Mixed Concrete Industrial Cooperative Federation said on the 6th that it opened the 2026 Jeju Ready-Mixed Concrete Management Innovation Forum on the 5th at the Maison Glad Hotel in Jeju City, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. About 300 people, including representatives of member cooperatives and member companies from across the country, are attending the three-day event, which runs through the 7th.
The forum is themed "Beyond Recovery to Solid Growth — Taking the First Step of a New Start." It was organized to review the major issues facing the ready-mixed concrete industry amid a prolonged slump in construction and to explore management strategies for responding to a rapidly changing industrial environment.
On the opening day, experts gave lectures on the direction of public procurement policy, key issues in the ready-mixed concrete industry, and the outlook for construction along with how the industry should respond. The Korea Concrete Testing Institute presented findings on cement and ready-mixed concrete industries overseas, based on industry exchanges with Japan and China, and reported on trends in the domestic low-carbon cement market. On the second day, the 6th, participants are examining future management strategies on topics including how small and mid-sized ready-mixed concrete companies should respond to the era of AI transformation.
"We hope this forum becomes a starting point for jointly responding to the changes coming to our industry, including the public market, carbon neutrality and AI," federation Chairman Bae Jo-woong said. "An important role of the federation is to build and refine the policy foundation so that member companies can continue their businesses without worry."
