Park Young-sun, Who Volunteered as a Troubleshooter for Startup Appeals, Behind the Scenes of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups - Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Agreement

Palmskin CEO Appeals to Minister Park at Event: "No Containers, Difficult to Export Overseas"
Jungjingong-HMM 'Export Logistics Hotline Launched'... Priority Shipping Space for SMEs
Ministry of SMEs and Ministry of Oceans Support Policy Cooperation Between SMEs and Shipping Companies

On October 22nd, Minister Park Young-sun delivered a greeting at the CheongCheongCon launch ceremony of the non-face-to-face startup competition held at Seoul Tipstown. On the left in the photo is Kwak Tae-il, CEO of PalmSkin. Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] On the 29th of last month, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to support smooth maritime transportation for export SMEs. Despite the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), SME exports showed growth with a 19.6% increase in September, and the agreement aimed to support this trend. However, the business agreement between the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was unprecedented and considered unusual. It was later revealed that the background of this surprise agreement was the appeal of a young entrepreneur.

One week before the agreement, on the 23rd of last month, Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, attended the non-face-to-face digital youth startup competition event 'CheongCheongCon' and heard from a young entrepreneur sitting next to her about difficulties in exporting due to lack of ships, resulting in penalties from overseas clients. Kwak Tae-il, CEO of FarmSkin, which produces skincare products using bovine colostrum as a raw material, is a young entrepreneur who focused on the value of colostrum discarded by domestic livestock farms and achieved export success by utilizing it.

FarmSkin, which is listed in 55 countries and 10,000 online stores, shifted its focus to non-face-to-face marketing from June this year after COVID-19 impacted face-to-face business. It ranked first in colostrum skincare products on Amazon and was selected as one of Forbes' 2020 Asia Global Leaders 300. However, even on the day of CheongCheongCon, CEO Kwak was struggling to secure a container for exports to the Americas. When Minister Park, sitting next to him, asked, "What difficulties are you facing in your recent business operations?" Kwak replied, "Due to shipping company issues, there is no space on export containers, and we have been unable to meet delivery deadlines for several months."

With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, overseas shipping companies anticipated a decrease in cargo volume, leading them to maintain large vessels and reduce routes. However, consumer goods demand in the U.S. increased, and global online shopping demand surged, causing cargo volume to actually rise. As a result, frequent full loads on the China-Korea-U.S. route led overseas shipping companies to deploy vessels on the China-U.S. route, exacerbating the shortage of ships domestically. After identifying this issue, Minister Park sought solutions, which soon led to a win-win cooperation agreement where national shipping companies prioritize export volumes for SMEs. The agreement between the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was born from this background.

Thanks to the agreement securing container shipping space, FarmSkin was able to smoothly handle export volumes that previously required a two-month wait. Through the agreement, the Small and Medium Business Corporation and the national shipping company HMM established an 'export logistics hotline' to prioritize shipping space for urgent export cargo from SMEs. Two HMM vessels carrying goods from SMEs facing export difficulties, including FarmSkin, departed from Busan Port to Los Angeles, USA, on the 1st, carrying a total of 7,980 containers.

CEO Kwak said, "This was not just our problem but one faced by all export SMEs," adding, "It was a small complaint that could have been overlooked since it was a problem for all export SMEs, but I was amazed and very grateful for the minister's attention, determination, and influence in not missing it and resolving it."

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