The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs(MAFRA) and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation(aT) shared market expertise to expand exports of Korean agricultural products and discussed plans to enter local liquor markets to America and Europe. With the presence of 200 domestic agricultural food exporters, ‘American-European Export Expansion Strategy Meeting’ was held on 9th at Yangjae aTCenter in Seoul.

According to a local survey, well-being, ethnic foods, and social sharing of food cultures have already become trends in the United States while the European Union has selected ethnic foods, organic foods, healthy foods, and convenience foods as their trends. Consequently, the aT is seeking various strategies aiming to export USD 1.1 billion to the U.S. and USD 700 million to EU by 2020.

Kim Gwang-jin, the Director General of aT America, emphasized four categories as entry strategy such as items, marketing, public relations, and infrastructure through the presentation of ‘The U.S. food market trends and future plans.’ According to Kim, he pointed out fostering items directly related to farmers' income and developing USD 100 million export items to further nurture the market. In addition, he emphasized the importance of finding a vendor to penetrate a liquor market, and predicted that it would be essential to create online channels and promote K-Food using Hallyu.

Kim Min-ho, the President of aT Paris, suggested that there is a need to differentiate the marketing approach into four European regions: West, South, East, and North. Besides, it is necessary to discover export strategic items including fermented foods and vegan, and to promote K-Food on the international stage such as sports and cultural events.

Lee Byung-ho, the President of aT said, “The American and European markets are expected to see high growth in exports of Korean agricultural products if they are active in the local liquor market. We will make every effort to visualize some of the ideas presented at this strategic meeting.”

# fresh food buyers join paprika FAM tour

After signing the MOU on quarantine for the export of Korean paprika to China, the buyers took part in the Korean paprika Familiarization Tour.

The Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation(aT) has invited 10 major fresh food online and offline buyers from Beijing and Shanghai for paprika FAM tour in Korea. The buyers toured the local paprika production site and the joint screening place. The buyers, said “The Korean paprika is fresh, excellent in quality with exceptional texture and taste, so it will be competitive if it is exported to the premium market.”

Shin Hyun-gon, the Director of aT Food Export said, “This FAM tour was an opportunity to inform buyers about the excellence of Korean paprika. When export begins to China, we plan to perform various marketing activities such as promotion events at high-end department store and recipe development.”

#Korean ginseng is also popular in Vietnam

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs(MAFRA) and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation(aT) has announced that they had sent out a ginseng market pioneer team consisting of 12 members of the Ginseng Export Council to Vietnam to sign a USD 5.7 million export contract from 5 to 7 December.

The Korean ginseng accounts for 53% of Vietnam's ginseng imports in 2017, and ginseng exports to Vietnam rose 35% year-on-year as of the end of November in 2019, making it the fifth largest ginseng exporter. The team dispatched from aT conducted export consultations with 30 buyers who distribute ginseng and health foods mainly in Hanoi and in neighboring cities such as Halong Bay and Hai Phong. In this function, an array of new products such as black ginseng and red ginseng coffee were introduced, and data on the efficacy of ginseng were also provided in local language.

#Malaysian home shopping channels launched Tteokbokki

Korean Tteokbokki was launched through home shopping network in Malaysia, attracting local consumers.

According to aT, a total of 7 kinds of products were sold during the month of December at CJ WOW Shop, including ‘Halal Tteokbokki Package’ consisting of halal-certified rice cakes, sauces, and plain ramyeon noodle, and ‘Spicy Tteokbokki’ for consumers. The show host presented the recipe along with detailed description that all ingredients are KMF halal-certified, thus safe to eat.

This launch at home shopping was to intensively nurture the sales of rice and gochujang, which are promising export items in Malaysia, with the aim of diversifying agricultural exports. The aT expects that the home shopping sales will not only create the boom of tteokbokki consumption but also will serve as a foundation for Korean agricultural products to successfully settle in Malaysia.