KOTRA Holds Online Emergency Strategy Meetings to Boost Exports

Officials of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), including KOTRA President Yu Jeoung-yeol, attend online emergency strategy meetings to boost exports at KOTRA headquarters in Yeomgok-dong, Seoul, which took place from Feb. 1 to Feb. 3. (Photo: KOTRA)

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) held online emergency strategy meetings to boost exports at KOTRA headquarters in Yeomgok-dong, Seoul, from Feb. 1 to Feb. 3.

The meetings took place to send a message on the seriousness of the current situation by connecting 128 overseas trade offices in 83 countries and encouraging the export field to overcome multiple global crises.

On the first day, KOTRA headquarters convened online meetings with regional headquarters in China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia.

On the second day, KOTRA had meetings with overseas trade offices in North Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

KOTRA discussed ways of boosting exports with trade offices in European and CIS regional headquarters on the third and last day.

Specifically, KOTRA explored ways to help Korean companies further boost exports.

The agency prioritized how to recover export momentum by easing complaints and grievances Korean companies experience, offering logistics support and aggressively utilizing digital methods on top of conventional planned projects, such as supporting participation in international fairs and holding one-on-one negotiation sessions.

The government aims to see exports grow this year in cooperation with all ministries and related organizations with a focus on the Export Strategy Meetings, to be convened by President Yoon Suk-yeol, and the Export Support Convention consisting of all ministries.

KOTRA plans to lead the public and private sectors’ joint efforts to boost exports as an inter-ministry export platform to make the most of networks, owned by overseas trade offices.

KOTRA President Yu Jeoung-yeol said, “Korean companies find it difficult to export due to the sagging global economy, and KOTRA will explore new markets and export-linked businesses, based on aggressive collaboration between the private and public sectors by placing 128 overseas trade offices in 83 countries across the globe in front.”

Minister for Trade Ahn Presides Over 2nd Meeting on Export Support Convention

Minister for Trade Ahn Duk-geun of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) convened the second meeting of the Export Support Convention with heads of offices and bureaus at 18 export-related ministries, including MOTIE, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), in attendance on Jan. 11.

Participants of the meeting discussed issues, such as each ministry’s export support plan for the year 2023, taking stock of inter-ministry collaboration tasks and plans, and action plans to ease complaints and grievances export companies experience.

Each ministry decided to designate promising export items and concentrate support on them. For instance, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and MOTIE plan to nurture the medical care sector, which has showed signs of rising export in recent years.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) are stepping on the gas to foster agriculture and fisheries food sectors, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and MSIT are joining forces to export cultural content and ICT & software, respectively.

MOTIE and the Ministry of National Defense are ramping up export support of the nuclear power and defense industry sectors, respectively.

MOLIT, MOTIE and the Ministry of Environment have teamed up to lead large-sized exports, such as overseas construction and plant engineering projects.

KOTRA Releases Report on Japanese Trends on Food Consumption

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) published a report on Japanese women’s food consumption trends amid the protracted COVID-19 pandemic on Jan. 30.

The report summated up Japanese women’s food consumption trends as four keywords: “SHE’S,” standing for Simple, Health, E-commerce and Sustainability.

The report analyzed the current status and characteristics of the Japanese food market, introduced four food consumption trends, changed by the protracted pandemic and success examples and suggested ways of helping Korean companies enter the Japanese market successfully.

As for the “Simple” category, frozen food products enjoyed popularity for cutting down cooking time and adding tastes.

Demand on frozen foods for making cooking convenient was on the rise in the wake of social structural changes, coupled with nuclear families and rising one-member families, and the trend would further gain ground in the post-pandemic era.