This year’s Korea Grand Sourcing Fair is held as the largest one so far

Individual business meetings were held between representatives of 750 Korean exporting companies and 211 buyers from 36 countries

# A success story of striking deals for exports can even happen to a newly established firm making a fresh new start. This company, which was established in October last year that specializes in selling portable air purifiers overseas, took part in last year’s Korea Grand Sourcing Fair. A virtual meeting was arranged between this company and a buyer in the Philippines. The two parties engaged in discussions after the fair and reached an agreement on the product specification and design in March this year. The company further accommodated the buyer’s request to produce a tailored model with a built-in battery, improved packaging design with an English manual for users, which resulted in the initial delivery of 32,000 dollars’ worth of exports. Ever since completing the initial delivery, the company received two additional orders. By now, the company has sold a total of 160,000 dollars’ worth of this product to date.

As most countries are lifting entry restrictions, in-person business activities have seen a major boost. This is contributing to generating a greater chance of opportunities to be connected with buyers, similar to the case described above, which may bear fruit with striking export deals. The Korea International Trade Association (Chairman: Christopher Koo) announced that it will host 2022 Korea Grand Sourcing Fair as the largest fair held so far. This year’s fair was held on November 29th and 30th as a two-day event at COEX in Samseong-dong. The fair attracted a total of 211 buyers from 36 countries and representatives of 750 Korean exporting companies.

About three quarters of buyers who participated in the fair came from the ASEAN region, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, which are Korea’s key export markets. The fair also attracted more than 50 buyers specializing in the field of distribution from the Middle East, South America and Europe, all of which are important strategic markets for Korea’s exports in the future. Buyers showed interest in securing suppliers of consumer goods, machinery, ships, energy solutions, environmentally-friendly high-end consumer goods. Buyers from the Southeast Asian region, including Watsons - the world’s largest distributor of healthcare products and cosmetics from Hong Kong, Big C - a Thai company operating hypermarkets throughout the ASEAN region and Saigon Co-op - one of three major distribution companies that handles both wholesale and retail from Vietnam, visited Korea to secure suppliers of high-end Korean-made consumer goods, including beauty items and food products.

2022 Korea Grand Sourcing Fair also attracted companies from the Middle East - a strategically important market for Korean companies. Among those include Homecentre - a company that operates a chain of stores that sell home furnishings across the Middle East region and Lulu Group Retail - a company headquartered in the Middle East region that operates 215 supermarket chains in Indonesia. Director Putri from Lulu Group Retail mentioned, “The fair was a wonderful opportunity to discover Korean food products and cosmetics suitable for being supplied to hypermarkets.” The director added, “Although I had to take time out of my schedule to attend this fair, I believe my decision to do so paid off.”

Aside from companies handling consumer goods, companies that specialize in other industrial sectors came to Korea to attend the fair in search of a wide array of Korean products. Among those include Empire One Group - an UAE-based company that offers energy solutions and Aries Marine - another UAE-based company that specialize in machinery and ships. Meanwhile, various side-events were held for Korean companies participating in the fair. These side-events were organized to provide advice on expanding business operations overseas, offer information on making overseas investments and support companies to secure stable supply chains overseas.

Various seminars and consulting sessions were also held during the fair. “A seminar and consulting session on trade & investment with diplomats” was held by inviting members of diplomatic missions present in Korea, which was organized by taking advantage of a network of diplomats in the country. Additionally, “A seminar on overseas marketing strategy insights” was held to propose next year’s overseas marketing strategies by key strategic market and product. Other types of seminars and consulting sessions held during the fair include, “An online consulting session on diversifying supply chains”, “A consulting session on offering financial support for exporting companies” and “A consulting session on initiating a business by taking advantage of online platforms.” In his speech during the fair, Chairman Koo mentioned, “We plan to hold export fairs in new locations and expand the size of such fairs next year to fully support our companies to engage in overseas marketing activities.” He also said, “We will stand in the front line of making efforts to resolve imminent risks to our exports by targeting on items and business types with high growth potential and focusing on key strategic markets.”

[This news is provided Korea Trade News]