SEOUL, April 02 (AJU PRESS) - South Korea's major trade association, KITA, announced Tuesday it is organizing an annual export consultation event to find prominent small and medium-sized enterprises with potential. After counseling 51 applicants, the organization will select companies with competitive products for overseas markets.
The counseling event is designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand abroad using overseas sales network established by conglomerates. Out of 151 applicants from the food and beverage, cosmetics, and household goods sectors, 51 participants were selected. According to KITA, 32 participants chosen last year collectively generated $620,000 in overseas sales.
KITA said the consultation event is being held at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in southern Seoul. Selected firms will be provided with opportunities to sell their products to consumers in eight nations in the second half of 2024. The trade organization is working with GS Retail, the operator of South Korea's convenience store franchise GS25, and NH Nonghyup Trade, a trading company specializing in exporting Korean agricultural and food products.
GS Retail will assist in marketing activities such as food-tasting events using its overseas stores. The company currently runs more than 500 stores in Viet Nam and Mongolia. NH Nonghyup Trade will support sales of processed agricultural products from South Korea through its sales network abroad.
"This project has become an exceptionally effective marketing opportunity for Korean consumer goods firms, helping them boost brand awareness while enabling real-time monitoring of consumer trends in target nations," KITA's global cooperation bureau director Kim Ki-hyun said. "We will try hard to expand cooperation with other major trading firms to offer more overseas business opportunities for promising SMEs."
