KOTRA, Seoul Food 40th Anniversary... "Check Out the Domestic and International Food Industry"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] KOTRA announced that it will hold the ‘2022 Seoul International Food Industry Exhibition (Seoul Food 2022)’ for four days starting from the 7th at KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do.

Seoul Food is recognized as the largest food exhibition in Korea and one of the four major food exhibitions in Asia. It is held annually to support domestic food industry companies in export and domestic market development, and to share rapidly changing global food industry trends and innovation information.

Especially this year marks the 60th anniversary of KOTRA’s founding and the 40th anniversary of Seoul Food. As recovery to daily life begins after COVID-19, 962 companies from 30 countries worldwide are participating in person.

The opening ceremony was attended by KOTRA Vice President Su-deuk Son, KINTEX CEO Hwa-young Lee, Informa Markets Asia Vice President Christopher Eve, and ambassadors from about 20 countries participating with national pavilions.

On this day, a new Seoul Food BI was jointly announced to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Seoul Food, followed by an archive planning exhibition hall introducing KOTRA’s 60-year history and Seoul Food’s 40-year history through videos, along with various participatory spaces.

This year’s exhibition is held in five halls of KINTEX Exhibition Center 1. In Halls 1-2 of Exhibition Center 1, where food machinery is displayed, the ▲Seoul International Food Machinery Exhibition ▲Seoul International Hotel & Restaurant Machinery Exhibition ▲Seoul International Food Packaging Machinery Exhibition ▲Seoul International Food Safety Machinery Exhibition are held with 191 companies and 744 booths. The food sector is divided into domestic and international pavilions in Halls 3-5. In the domestic pavilion, 453 domestic food companies participate with 671 booths, while in the international pavilion, 318 food companies from 30 countries worldwide participate.

This year, a hybrid business consultation environment combining online and offline was also established. To support the practical business of participating companies, ▲online and offline consultation meetings ▲domestic distribution buyer consultation meetings are held to support export and market expansion of participating companies.

Programs to comprehensively review the food industry changes after the COVID-19 pandemic are also prepared. Jenny Ziegler, Global Food & Beverage Director of Mintel, a trend research specialist, will deliver the keynote speech on the theme ‘2022 Global Food & Beverage Trends.’ In addition, domestic and international food industry experts will participate as speakers, dividing sessions by themes such as ▲Business ▲Trends ▲Global ▲Market Innovation to share trends and insights of the global food industry in line with the times.

In addition, Seoul Food’s unique events such as the ‘Seoul Food Awards’ to discover and introduce excellent domestic and international foods, the ‘Seoul Food Live Commerce Sales Exhibition’ to promote participating companies’ products and support actual sales, and the ‘Korea Coffee Championship’ to select Korea’s representative for the World Coffee Championship are held simultaneously.

KOTRA Vice President Su-deuk Son said, “We will actively support domestic food companies that have faced difficulties due to COVID-19 over the past two years to expand overseas through Seoul Food.”

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