Chungcheongnam-do

▲ Chungcheongnam-do booth with four ginseng producers from the province (visited by numerous buyers)

Chungcheongnam-do confirmed the possibility for increased exports of Korean ginseng to Singapore, an Asian logistics and financial hub that is recently rising as a food industry hub.
Chungcheongnam-do announced on the 30th that it had achieved export consultancy results to a scale of $2.92 million (KRW 3.133 billion) at Food & Hotel Asia 2018 held in Singapore on the 24th - 27th of last month.

Singapore imports more than 90% of its food from overseas countries. It draws attention as a market testing site where the marketability of products from agricultural and food companies of Korea can be verified. In particular, the scale of Singapore's import food market is as large as KRW 13 trillion and the country's buying potential for Korean products is high in line with Hallyu, the Korean Wave.

Accordingly, Chungcheongnam-do selected Singapore as a strategic country for ginseng export expansion and is accelerating the efforts to establish a basis for export expansion to Southeast Asia by publicizing the excellence of Korean ginseng and discovering promising buyers. It has established a plan to participate in “Food & Hotel Asia 2018," the largest exposition of its kind in Asia, to identify food consumption trends in Southeast Asian countries and use it as a bridgehead for entry into the Southeast Asian market.

At Food & Hotel Asia 2018, Chungcheongnam-do opened a booth together with four ginseng producers in the province, Kuan Industrial, Geumsan Deogwon Ginseng and Medicinal Herb Farming Association, Nolmae Ginseng Farming Association and Samjang Cooperative, where it displayed and provided consultancy services for ginseng products. Local buyers inspected and tasted the ginseng products in person. In particular, they displayed a high level of interest in confectionery (candied ginseng), red ginseng concentrate and ginseng chip products.

Chungcheongnam-do will provide follow-up management so that the consulting outcomes can lead to an actual increase of exports and, at the same time, support the development of new ginseng products and customized marketing strategies in order to ensure entry into the Southeast Asian market.

Through this, we could identify the latest trends and atmosphere in the Southeast Asian food markets including Singapore, witness the high level of interest shown by local buyers in Korean ginseng products and weigh up the potential for an increase of exports in the future,” said an insider of the Chungcheongnam-do Office. “We will continue to provide unsparing support to the ginseng product manufacturers for new product and market development.”