Gochang-gun's 'Black Barley Beverage' Enters the U.S. Market

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Jae-gil] The black barley beverage from Gochang-gun, Jeonbuk, has entered the U.S. market, raising expectations for revitalizing the local agricultural food industry.

According to Gochang-gun on the 16th, the beverage "Black Barley (Hite Jinro Beverage)" made from black barley grown in Gochang has been launched for sale at Trader Joe’s, a major U.S. retail chain.

Trader Joe’s is a leading U.S. organic food distribution company specializing in wholefoods (foods without chemical additives). It discovers specialty products and processed foods from various countries and supplies them to over 500 stores in the U.S. and global markets. This is the first time a domestic beverage company’s product has been listed in a major U.S. distributor.

Currently, while the carbonated and juice beverage markets are stagnant in the global beverage market, the bottled water and water substitute beverage markets are leading growth. This represents a tectonic shift in the 230-year-old global beverage market worth 700 trillion won.

Earlier, in 2018, Gochang-gun signed a business agreement with Hite Jinro Beverage and has been working to specialize in black barley. Efforts included distributing new barley variety seeds in cooperation with the Rural Development Administration’s National Institute of Crop Science, creating the largest black barley cultivation complex in Korea, holding forums for barley food industry development, developing barley noodle dishes linked to the Green Barley Festival, and exporting barley products overseas including to the U.S.

Additionally, the company provided stable income to farmers by purchasing 150 tons of black barley from Gochang and Haenam in 2018 and 400 tons last year.

Moreover, the beverage label prominently features the win-win cooperation case stating "Made from barley produced in Gochang," which has started to gain popularity as a "good beverage."

Hite Jinro was also selected as an "Excellent Company for Agricultural and Corporate Win-Win Cooperation by Consumers in 2019" and received the "Grand Prize at the 2019 Agricultural and Corporate Win-Win Cooperation Competition."

In particular, the county anticipates explosive growth in the immune-boosting, health, and functional beverage and food markets after COVID-19 and is focusing on developing related products.

Recently, Gochang-gun and Korea National Sport University held a "Memorandum of Understanding for the Promotion of Health Foods and the Sports Industry" and have begun developing functional sports beverages using local premium agricultural specialties such as bokbunja (Korean black raspberry), watermelon, melon, cherry, and fermented vinegar.

Yoo Ki-sang, mayor of Gochang-gun, said, "Gochang-gun is promoting the agricultural life food industry as the top priority policy of the county government. Food companies will increase added value through stable raw material procurement, and farmers will benefit from expanded sales channels and increased income through increased purchases of domestic agricultural products."

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