K-Food Craze Reaches Laos... Ministry of Agriculture and KOTRA Dispatch Food Ingredient Delegation

Local Export Consultations Begin on the 23rd
Korean Food Ingredient Imports Surge Up to 130%
Introduction of Import Procedures and Distribution Strategies

As the global 'K-Food' craze continues to spread, the popularity of Korean food ingredients is rising in Laos, not only for finished food products but also for raw materials. In an effort to expand food exports from finished products to ingredients, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) dispatched a Food Ingredient Strategic Delegation to Vientiane, Laos, for three days starting from the 23rd, following their visit last month, to hold local export consultations and promotional events.

This delegation included eight Korean food ingredient companies, which participated in business-to-business (B2B) export consultations, market briefings, and promotional events, allowing them to directly observe Laos's distribution structure and consumer responses.

Korean food exports reached 11.7 billion dollars last year, and are expected to hit an all-time high again this year, having surpassed 10 billion dollars in the shortest period on record. In Laos, exports of products such as tteokbokki, gimbap, and sauces have surged amid the Korean Wave. As of September 2025, Laos's imports of Korean food ingredients have seen significant growth, with sauce imports up 60% and pickled vegetables such as kimchi up 130% year-on-year, making K-Food a key driver of export growth.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) dispatched a 'Food Ingredient Strategic Delegation' to Vientiane, Laos, for three days starting from the 23rd, following their visit in September, to hold local export consultations and promotional events. Park Jungyu, KOTRA Vientiane Trade Center Director (sixth from the left), Jung Youngsoo, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Laos (seventh from the left), and representatives of participating companies in the delegation are taking a commemorative photo. KOTRA.

Laos is gaining attention as a new destination for global food and beverage brands, driven by recent income growth and urbanization. To capitalize on this opportunity, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and KOTRA have newly designated Laos as an emerging strategic market for K-agricultural food exports and are continuously organizing food delegations and promotional events.

At the briefing held on the 23rd, representatives from Laos's distribution network Kokkok Mart, logistics company LK Group, and the Domestic Distribution Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos served as speakers, introducing food ingredient import procedures and logistics and distribution strategies. In the subsequent B2B export consultation, a total of 22 major Laotian distributors, restaurants, and franchise companies participated, engaging in 48 one-on-one business consultations with Korean companies and discussing contracts worth approximately 980,000 dollars.

On the 24th and 25th, the 'K-Food Town Festival 2025' promotional event was held at Parkson Mall, a leading shopping mall in Vientiane. The event venue, decorated with traditional Korean roof tiles and blue-and-red ornaments, was designed to evoke the atmosphere of a Korean street, attracting significant attention from visitors. Over the two days, 3,200 Laotian consumers visited the event, where they sampled tteokbokki, Korean beef, Makgeolli, and other products.

Park Jungyu, Director of the KOTRA Vientiane Trade Center, stated, "With the expansion of franchise distribution and modern large-scale supermarkets in Laos, demand for high-quality and trusted Korean food ingredients is rapidly increasing. This delegation was organized as an opportunity to directly observe the local market structure and consumer responses by conducting briefings, consultations, and promotional events in parallel." He added, "By expanding marketing efforts in cooperation with local distribution networks, we aim to help K-Food become a regular part of everyday dining in Laos."

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