KOTRA Holds Online Meeting with Overseas Trade Center Heads to Devise Global Market Entry Strategies

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] KOTRA announced on the 22nd that it will hold trade office chief meetings via video conference for two weeks starting from the 20th of this month, organized by 10 regional headquarters. A total of 127 trade office chiefs from 84 countries worldwide will discover new opportunities based on local overseas demand to connect them to export expansion.

Despite the COVID-19 situation, South Korea's export value in the first half of this year reached a record high of $303.2 billion, and the export growth rate compared to the same period last year (26.1%) marked the highest in 11 years. However, amid uncertainties such as the recent spread of COVID-19 variants, soaring raw material prices, and global supply chain restructuring, discovering new opportunities and differentiated responses have become necessary.

Until early last year, overseas trade office chief meetings were held offline in connection with overseas expansion support projects, but due to COVID-19, this meeting will be held online.

KOTRA will hold a virtual meeting of trade center heads from 10 regional headquarters for two weeks starting from the 20th. Yoo Jung-yeol, President of KOTRA, is delivering a greeting at the virtual meeting held on the 20th. Photo by KOTRA

In this meeting, KOTRA plans to focus on ▲expanding digital marketing tailored to online consumption spreading across emerging countries and all generations ▲discovering cooperation opportunities between major advanced countries’ green and digital new deal policies such as the United States, European Union (EU), China, Japan, and Korea’s New Deal policy ▲supporting entry into new global value chains (GVC) in response to supply chain restructuring ▲and expanding exports of new growth items such as biohealth, future cars, and eco-friendly products.

By region, in the New Southbound and New Northern regions, opportunities will be sought in the expansion of online transactions, GVC restructuring, local government manufacturing promotion, and smart industry sectors. For example, in Australia, a major agricultural country, KOTRA plans to promote smart farm exports, focusing on the spread of agricultural damage caused by climate change. In Singapore, Russia, and other countries, cooperation with the region’s top 1st and 2nd online distribution networks will be expanded to increase opportunities for listing and promoting Korean products.

The Gumi region is focusing on Europe’s Green Deal and the U.S. Green New Deal policies and is also promoting the integration of Korea’s New Deal. Europe and North America have environmental industry investment plans exceeding $8 trillion and have shown high interest in Korea’s New Deal. If these policies are connected, a huge ripple effect is expected. For example, Europe has introduced a plastic tax and a ban on plastic waste exports since January this year, opening new markets such as exports of alternative products.

In the Greater China region, digital transactions are rapidly increasing amid stable recovery in trade, consumption, and investment, so new channel marketing will be strengthened. Since last year, six K-Studios established in China will serve as bases to expand influencer marketing and collaboration with online distribution platforms such as Taobao, and projects responding to new normal consumption trends like home economy will also increase.

Additionally, cooperation between local governments, state-owned enterprises, and Korean companies will be supported in seven industries benefiting from the Chinese government’s new SOC (social overhead capital) development policy, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial internet networks, big data, ultra-high voltage equipment, high-speed rail and rail transit, and electric vehicle charging stations.

In the Middle East and Africa regions, KOTRA plans to link the local Korean Wave and K-quarantine boom with digital trade to expand export momentum. Since last year, diagnostic kits and quarantine supplies have been exported to five countries including Saudi Arabia, and this will be expanded to all biohealth sectors and neighboring countries, with online distribution network businesses also extending to Africa. The Dubai Expo, held from October, will also be actively utilized.

KOTRA President Jeong-yeol Yoo emphasized, "We will actively promote digital marketing tailored to the characteristics of each market and the global expansion of Korea’s New Deal," adding, "We will proactively capture new opportunities and actively resolve difficulties faced by export companies so that our exports, which are on the recovery trend, can gain even more momentum."

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