Jung Saem Mool Beauty, a leading K-Beauty brand, secured 12.5 billion won in funding earlier this year from a fund that includes Korea Eximbank. The investment will be used to open new stores overseas and establish a local subsidiary in North America, serving as a stepping stone for its global brand expansion.
Paldo is expanding its international sales by launching the global brand 'Ari,' in collaboration with BTS, across Walmart stores in the United States. Korea Eximbank plans to support the increased export volume by providing working capital necessary for raw material purchases and production expansion.
Korea Eximbank is broadening its focus from policy financing primarily in manufacturing sectors like overseas plants, shipbuilding, and semiconductors to include consumer goods industries such as K-Food and K-Beauty. As the popularity of K-content boosts the global competitiveness of domestic consumer goods, the bank is adapting its policy financing to align with these industry changes.
According to the financial sector on July 13, Korea Eximbank plans to supply a total of 28 trillion won in policy financing to K-Culture industries, including K-Food and K-Beauty, by 2030 over the next five years. With content and consumer goods emerging as new pillars of export growth, the scope of policy financing is shifting from a manufacturing focus to K-Culture industries.
The scale of Korea Eximbank's financial support for K-Food has increased for four consecutive years, rising from 2.11 trillion won in 2022 to 2.15 trillion won in 2023, 2.25 trillion won in 2024, and 2.60 trillion won in 2025. This year, the support is expected to grow further due to strong K-Food export performance.
The range of support is also expanding. The focus is on establishing a financial support system that encompasses the entire value chain, including working capital for export expansion, overseas market entry, distribution network establishment, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The aim is to go beyond simple export financing to support production, logistics, and the establishment of overseas sales networks.
Korea Eximbank is also strengthening its collaborative network to support overseas expansion. It has established a system to assist K-Food companies in entering emerging markets in partnership with the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), and signed a $30 million financing agreement with the Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia (TDB) to enhance local financial accessibility.
Industry experts believe that due to the long investment recovery periods and significant business uncertainties in the early stages of overseas expansion, relying solely on private financing to meet funding needs is limited. They emphasize that the role of policy financing is becoming increasingly important to develop K-content as the next generation of export industries.
A financial sector official stated, “Since K-Food and K-Beauty have a high proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises, a financial support system tailored to the growth stages of these companies is necessary. We expect to see more cases where policy financing backs overseas investments and production expansions that private finance cannot handle.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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