KOTRA "All-Out Effort to Minimize Export Impact of New Coronavirus"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] KOTRA elevated the head of its existing emergency response team to the agency chief on the 11th to minimize the impact of the novel coronavirus infection and launched a full-scale response utilizing 129 trade offices worldwide.

The Chinese authorities, aligning with the end of the holiday on the 10th, will allow business operations after prior approval and plan to issue "force majeure certificates" for delivery delays of companies operating in China. Accordingly, KOTRA is urgently providing guidance on the resumption of operations requirements by provincial and municipal governments in China and the issuance methods of force majeure certificates, preparing and distributing an emergency FAQ to address labor difficulties, and offering consultations. Additionally, emergency sourcing support will be provided for companies facing shortages of raw materials and parts.

If it is difficult to hold overseas marketing events in the first quarter due to collaboration institutions or customer factors within China, the schedule will be adjusted and expanded. To support urgent demand through online consultations, a comprehensive plan to expand video consultations has been established and implemented. This plan includes regular and COVID-19 response consultation weeks, and the system will be improved to allow buyers to consult from their own companies as much as possible.

KOTRA has elevated the head of its existing emergency response team to the position of agency chief to minimize the impact of the novel coronavirus infection, which has emerged as a major obstacle to turning exports positive. The agency has launched a full-scale response utilizing 129 trade offices worldwide. Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA (right), is speaking at an emergency response team meeting held via video conference with trade offices in the China region. Photo by KOTRA

To prepare for increased demand in materials, parts, equipment, and protective fields, KOTRA will actively encourage targeting alternative markets such as the New Southern and New Northern regions outside China and plans to utilize the recently developed big data system. KOTRA has developed a big data platform centered on recommending promising markets using export statistics and internally accumulated customer information, as well as publishing artificial intelligence (AI) reports. This big data system will be actively used to discover alternative markets.

KOTRA will strengthen close support in a pinpoint manner for the time being. Difficulties arising from individual projects such as branch office establishment and vouchers will be resolved through methods like adjusting service fees and extending service periods.

In particular, the spread of the infection will be classified into scenarios such as early containment in February to March, mid-term containment in April to May, and containment in the second half of the year, with step-by-step measures prepared to ensure efficiency. In the mid to long term, support will be provided for entering alternative regions to diversify supply chains (SCM) outside China. In response to changes in consumption patterns after the spread of the infection, support for home economy, medical innovation, lifestyle changes, and smart city marketing will also be expanded.

Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA, stated, "Compared to SARS (2013) and MERS (2015), China's impact on our exports and the global economy has increased," adding, "We will take this crisis as an opportunity to diversify exports and supply chains."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.