Due to COVID-19 Impact, Seafood Exports Down 8%... Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Strengthens Online Marketing Support via SNS and Home Shopping

(Photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 23rd that it will strengthen its online seafood export support project to revitalize seafood exports in overseas markets that have been contracted due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Recently, due to the spread of COVID-19, demand in major seafood export markets such as Japan and China has decreased, resulting in seafood export performance recording a provisional figure of $650 million as of the 14th, down 8% compared to the same period last year.

In response, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is implementing non-face-to-face online export marketing strategies such as ▲entry into online malls ▲SNS promotion ▲delivery app marketing ▲TV home shopping sales.

To activate seafood exports through online malls, in March, the ministry supported the entry and sales of domestic seafood food companies in seven online malls across five countries including China, achieving sales of about $40,000 for products such as seasoned laver and fish cakes. This month, it is supporting the entry of 10 seafood food companies into eight online malls in four countries including China, the United States, and ASEAN, selling seaweed snacks, salted seafood, and braised anchovies. The ministry expects sales of about $50,000.

Going forward, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to continue supporting the online mall entry project, which has a significant sales effect due to the impact of COVID-19. In particular, it plans to expand the scale of entry for items with good market response, such as seasoned laver.

Additionally, the ministry is producing and broadcasting online influencer content to promote Korean seafood to young overseas audiences familiar with online content. On March 20, on the Chinese online live streaming platform 'Yizhibo,' famous influencer 'Soseoal' introduced Korean fish cake bars and made fish cake sandwiches for tasting, live streaming content that recorded about 1.07 million viewers and about 11 million views (including replays). On March 31 and April 10, Malaysian famous influencer 'Bellakan' released tasting and cooking content of seasoned laver products on YouTube, garnering about 500,000 views and generating high interest in Korean laver. Furthermore, the ministry plans to strengthen online promotion by producing various promotional contents such as fish cake soup, braised anchovies, and seasoned squid through famous influencers in Singapore and Taiwan.

Marketing linked with delivery apps will also be promoted. To enable Korean seafood to smoothly enter the rapidly growing overseas delivery food market due to COVID-19, marketing linked with delivery companies is planned for May. Through advertisements within local mobile delivery applications in ASEAN regions such as Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines, where the delivery industry is well developed, Korean seafood products will be promoted, and delivery services linked with Korean restaurants will be supported to create an environment where Korean seafood products can be easily accessed at home.

For home shopping, starting in June, sales broadcasts linked with overseas home shopping companies will be promoted so that overseas consumers can easily purchase Korean seafood products through TV. Last year, about $31,000 in export performance was achieved by selling laver, seaweed salad, fish cakes, and snow crab sauce through TV home shopping in Taiwan and Malaysia. This year, the scale will be expanded to sell various Korean seafood products in four countries (Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia) and eight home shopping companies (including Dongsam Home Shopping and GS Shop).

The offline export consultation meeting for the first half of the year, postponed due to COVID-19, will be held online. Currently, a system is being established on the Seafood Trade Support Center website to allow consultations online or via mobile, and support such as company promotional content production and interpretation services will be provided to ensure no difficulties in export consultations through online channels.

Lee Kyung-gyu, Director of Fisheries Policy at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, said, "We hope this online export support project will be a catalyst for the seafood export industry struggling due to COVID-19," and added, "We will continue to seek various seafood export expansion policies in line with the rapidly changing global consumption trends caused by COVID-19."

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