aT Inaugurates Group to Step Up Expansion of ‘K-Food’ Exports

aT President Kim Choon-jin receives an appreciation plaque from Rep. Michelle Steel at his district constituent office in California in recognition of the former’s contribution of expanding exports to the United States and development of Korean-U.S. economic relations.

Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. (aT) inaugurated a group to step up the expansion of “K-food” exports as part of efforts to advance an era of raising K-food exports to $100 billion.

The group is responsible for examining pending internal and external issues, such as export trend analysis and non-tariff barriers.

Then it ramps up export-oriented support, such as easing of complaints and grievances export companies experience with this year’s goal of achieving $13.5 billion in agro-fisheries & food exports.

aT President Kim Choon-jin said, “Even though the nation is facing with harder conditions than any time with declining of overall exports considerably, aT will achieve this year’s goal of exporting $13.5 billion and open an era of $100 billion K-food exports by offering diverse support steps, such as the continuously nurturing of promising export items, diversifying of markets and expanding of publication.”

Meanwhile, despite a crisis, caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “the three highs,” aT contributed to making a feat of posting $12 billion in agro-fisheries & food exports last year thanks to diverse efforts, such as the global spreading of “Kimchi Day,” online and off-line K-food marketing activities and sea and air logistics support.

aT President Kim celebrated two years in office on March 15. He has been credited with topping $10 billion in agro-fisheries & food exports for the first time ever in 2021, and achieving the best-ever export performance for the second straight year by exporting $12 billion last year.

President Kim has been praised for prioritizing solutions for pending major issues, such as stepping up food security, leading the food ESG initiative like “Green Food Day,” spreading “Kimchi Day” in the United States and other parts of the world, and establishing a digital food material distribution system using an integrated public meal platform.

The nation logged $12 billion in agro-fisheries & food exports last year, the best-ever performance, despite impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, Russia-Ukraine war and “the three highs”.

President Kim’s efforts have paid off. The nation saw agro-fisheries & food exports surge to $12 billion last year, a 50 percent jump over $8 billion in 2012.

Korea aims to achieve $13.5 billion in agro-fisheries & food exports this year. To this end, President Kim showed his strong determination to achieve this year’s goal by inaugurating the group to step up the expansion of “K-food.

President Kim has been recognized for leading efforts to raise the value of K-food by spreading “Kimchi Day” as part of efforts to globalize kimchi, K-food’s representative fermented food.

Starting with Kimchi Day in the state of California in 2021, President Kim has been noted for spreading the initiative to U.S. states, such as Virginia, New York and Washington DC.

Last December, aT held an event to call for creation of Kimchi Day at the Library of Congress in Washington DC and aT President Kim had meeting with U.S. congressmen to spread Kimchi’s values and prominence.

Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. holds a ceremony to open its branch in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in which K-culture is all the rage, on March 10. (Photos: aT)