Martial Arts, 'New Southern Big Buyer and Specialized Trading Company Online Consultation' Held

Record Participation with 57 Companies from 11 Countries
Specialized Trading Companies Also Support Export Agency Services

Koo Ja-yeol, Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (third from the right), is visiting the New Southern Big Buyer online consultation hall at the '2021 New Southern Business Week' held at COEX, Samseong-dong on the 5th, observing the consultations.
[Photo by Korea International Trade Association]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Korea International Trade Association held an online export consultation meeting for big buyers and specialized trading companies aiming to enter the New Southern Market on the 5th and 6th at COEX, Samseong-dong, Seoul.

In its third edition, this consultation meeting saw the participation of 57 big buyers from 11 New Southern Market countries?the largest scale ever?who conducted online video export consultations with 191 domestic companies in sectors such as food and beverages, beauty products, health and medical supplies, household appliances, and information and communication technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT).

Major buyers included Reliance Retail, India's largest distribution company; Lazada and Shopee, Southeast Asia's largest e-commerce platforms; Sheng Siong, one of Singapore's top three supermarket chains; and the Malaysian subsidiary of Aeon, Asia's largest retail distribution company.

Last year, domestic mask pack and skincare manufacturer Company P, which participated in the video consultation, held discussions with Vietnamese beauty product import and distribution specialist Company J. At Company J's request, Company P sent 30 types of samples to Vietnam for local market testing. Subsequently, they succeeded in signing a first export contract for five types of mask packs with Company J and are currently undergoing Vietnam's certification procedures.

A 'Specialized Trading Company Online Export Consultation Meeting' was also held simultaneously to support export agency services for domestic small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. This event featured 40 specialized trading companies, including Hyundai Home Shopping and Lotte Shopping, which mainly conduct export agency activities in the New Southern Market region, holding consultations with 82 manufacturing companies.

Shin Seung-kwan, Executive Director of the Trade Association, said, "Recently, the New Southern Market region has seen rapid growth in online platform markets and increased demand for non-face-to-face economic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will spare no effort to support our companies in responding to these changes and establishing export strategies by utilizing various channels and networks."

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