Twenty-eight Vietnamese food companies are participating in Seoul Food 2026, marking a significant push into the South Korean market. Amid a growing trend toward health, sustainability, and convenience, these companies aim to expand exports and discover new partnerships by showcasing high-value products.
According to Vietnamese media reports on June 10, Seoul Food 2026 opened on June 9 at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and will run until June 12. The event features approximately 1,800 booths, attracting food companies, importers, distributors, and retail chain representatives from various countries. Organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) since 1983, this expo is recognized as Korea's largest and a leading food exhibition in Asia.
This year, the participating Vietnamese companies are showcasing coffee, beverages, processed fruits, cashews, pepper, natural spices, processed seafood, nutritional foods, organic products, and processed tropical agricultural products. This shift reflects a move away from a focus on raw and semi-processed goods toward deeper processing, brand development, and value addition.
Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea, Pham Huu Chi, visited the booths to meet with company representatives, promoting products and assessing partnership opportunities and market expansion in South Korea. He noted that the South Korean market has high demands for quality, food safety, and sustainability, making it a market with significant potential in the agricultural and food sectors.
He also referenced South Korea's experience in growing its food industry alongside K-culture, suggesting that combining product quality, processing technology, modern packaging, cultural storytelling, and national branding strategies could serve as a valuable approach for Vietnamese companies.
Seoul Food has evolved beyond a mere event to become a crucial platform for business connections. Through B2B programs, participating companies engage directly with South Korean importers, distribution systems, and major retail networks. This setup not only facilitates short-term orders but also fosters long-term collaboration opportunities. Additionally, buyers from Japan, China, ASEAN, the Middle East, and North America are also participating, broadening trade connections.
South Korea, with the fourth-largest economy in Asia, has a food and beverage market that is among the largest in Northeast Asia. Due to limitations in agricultural land and natural conditions, the country has a high dependency on imports for tropical agricultural products, processed foods, seafood, and food raw materials.
According to the Vietnamese trade office, the current trends in the South Korean food market can be summarized into three main categories: health orientation, sustainability, and convenience. Following the pandemic, there has been a rapid increase in interest in functional foods, low-sugar and low-fat products, and natural ingredient products. Factors such as ESG considerations, carbon emissions, eco-friendly packaging, and traceability are increasingly influencing purchasing and procurement standards. Additionally, the rise of single-person households and the acceleration of urban living are driving demand for ready-to-eat meals, frozen foods, and convenient packaging products.
These changes are opening new opportunities for key Vietnamese products, such as processed tropical fruits, coffee, beverages, spices, nutritional foods, and processed agricultural products. In fact, there have been numerous instances where companies have secured long-term partnerships and expanded exports to South Korea and beyond, using Seoul Food as a stepping stone.
Meanwhile, Vietnam and South Korea have set a goal to increase bilateral trade to $150 billion by 2030. With electronics, manufacturing, and investment sectors leading the way, agricultural products and food and beverages are emerging as new growth drivers. The participation in Seoul Food 2026 is seen as a test to enhance the international competitiveness of Vietnamese food products and expand their involvement in global supply chains.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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