K-FOOD that Oceania is crazy about too!

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Minister Song Mee-ryung) and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT, President Hong Moon-pyo) participated in the ‘2024 Fine Food Australia (FFA)’ held in Melbourne, Australia from September 2 to 5 and achieved export consultation results worth 30 million dollars.

The ‘Australian Food Expo’ is an exhibition held alternately in Sydney and Melbourne, and this year it was held in Melbourne. As the only international food exhibition in the Oceania region, about 30,000 agricultural and food companies from neighboring countries including New Zealand as well as Australia participated in the exhibition, and active export consultations were held.

Australia is an important base for entering the Oceania market, and the provisional export amount calculated as of the end of August this year recorded 146 million dollars, a 13.5% increase from the same period last year. Major items include ▲ Ramen at 32 million dollars (up 27.1% year-on-year), ▲ Kimchi at 6 million dollars (up 51.3%), ▲ Coffee preparations at 8 million dollars (up 10.9%), and ▲ Fruits at 3 million dollars (up 25.1%).

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and aT organized the ‘Integrated Korea Pavilion’ with 26 K-food exporters and showcased various products including ginseng, health food, kimchi, pears, beverages, sauces, snacks, and seaweed. During the expo, they attracted visitors by showing K-food promotional videos and holding on-site tasting and tasting events. They also utilized professional MCs to promote representative products of participating exporters and actively supported export consultations with influential local buyers to maximize consultation results.

Mr. Shannon of Pan Asia, an Australian buyer, explained the recent consumption trend by saying, “As interest in Korean content such as K-pop increases, K-food is expanding its influence not only among Korean expatriates and Asian consumers, but also in the white mainstream market.” He showed interest in various items such as kimchi, ginseng products, mushrooms, and alcohol, and also showed high interest in home-cooked meals such as frozen kimbap, expressing expectations for continued export expansion in the future.

Kwon Oh-yeop, Director of Export Food, said, “K-food has recently been building an image as a high-quality, trendy food in the Oceania market,” and “As Australia is an important gateway to the Oceania market, we plan to pursue various export support projects to meet the high interest in K-food.”

Editor. Hong Se-yeong