KOTRA Surpasses 20,000 Non-Face-to-Face Video Consultations Since COVID-19

Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA (center right), is visiting an online trade consultation site and greeting buyers via video call.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) has conducted over 20,000 non-face-to-face video consultations.

According to KOTRA on the 7th, since launching a full-scale support system for video consultations in early February, an average of 121 consultations have been held daily. The annual target was set at 2,000 consultations, but this was exceeded more than tenfold ahead of schedule. Compared to the same period last year, the number increased 25 times. Over the eight months since COVID-19, 9,496 overseas buyers participated in video consultations, while 6,928 domestic companies took part.

The regional concentration phenomenon has eased. At the end of March, overseas buyers participating in video consultations were concentrated in China, South Asia, Southeast Asia & Oceania, accounting for 72% of the total. This regional share decreased to 51% by the end of June and currently stands at 46%. Instead, the proportion of buyers from the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the CIS region has increased.

Regarding product categories, consumer goods such as cosmetics, beauty devices, household items, and food?products suitable for video consultations?were predominant. To diversify consultation items, KOTRA established industry-specific online exhibition halls within the B2B export platform 'BuyKorea.' The industry-specific online exhibition halls, including the automotive parts hall, machinery equipment hall, and medical devices hall, currently showcase 16,572 products from 5,588 companies.

Thanks to these efforts, the share of consumer goods, which accounted for 65% of total consultations at the end of March, has decreased to 45%. Consultations in the automotive parts and machinery parts sectors totaled 3,314, representing 16% of all consultations, while the medical devices sector accounted for 2,331 consultations, or 12%.

These efforts have also translated into results. Currently, 287 contracts have been signed, with export achievements totaling $61.33 million. Company L, based in Jeonnam, succeeded in exporting $110,000 worth of agricultural small multipurpose electric carriers to buyers attracted through the Swiss Zurich trade office. Company L stated, "We have been making efforts such as sending samples over the past two years, and finally achieved results through video consultations. Especially, the direct interpretation and communication support provided by the local trade office was a great help."

Functional cosmetics manufacturer Company T, based in Daegu, exported $3.4 million worth of hand sanitizers to the United States through video consultations arranged by the Chicago trade office. Company T said, "We seized the opportunity presented by COVID-19 to urgently start producing hand sanitizers. We had already obtained FDA certification in advance, and the ability to produce customized products according to buyers' requests was crucial."

The plant sector is also utilizing video consultations. Company A won a landfill gas and solar power generation project in the United Arab Emirates as a consortium. Company A stated, "We were able to concretize the project and form the consortium through six video consultations arranged by the Dubai trade office."

KOTRA has scheduled 407 video consultation events nationwide by the end of the year. From the 19th, 'Digital Boom Up Korea,' involving 1,000 companies, will be held until the end of November.

Additionally, KOTRA will collaborate with the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) for the first time to support video consultations. The two organizations plan to jointly utilize KOTRA’s overseas trade offices to attract more buyers at video consultation events held after November.

Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA, emphasized, "The success of video consultations ultimately depends on how many quality buyers can be attracted. While we have expanded buyer recruitment quantitatively so far, we will now activate follow-up and in-depth consultations to achieve qualitative improvement."

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