Korean Seafood Trade Mission to Seafood Expo Global 2024 Leads to $11.8 million in Export Sales

ATO Seoul brought five Korean seafood importers to the Seafood Expo Global (SEG) held in Barcelona, Spain, April 23-25, 2024. This trade mission introduced the Korean importers to American seafood products and suppliers at SEG. The trade mission resulted in several contracts for U.S. seafood signed on the spot ($4.8 million) as well as an estimated $7 million in potential purchases from U.S. seafood suppliers over the next 12 months. According to BICO data, the U.S.A. exported $479 million of seafood to Korea in 2023 and Korea is the United States fourth largest seafood export market.

ATO Seoul Promotes U.S. Seafood

ATO Seoul partnered with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) and Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) to organize a U.S. Pavilion at the 21^st Busan International Seafood & Fisheries Expo 2023, November 1 – 3. ATO Seoul, ASMI, WSDA, and one U.S. seafood supplying company provided information on U.S. seafood products to Korean buyers, exhibited samples, and met with visitors in the U.S. Pavilion. The event generated a number of serious trade leads from Korean seafood importers interested in a range of U.S. fishery products. South Korea is the United States fourth largest export market for fishery products. Korea imported $229 million worth of U.S. seafood in 2022, and another $226 million was transshipped through Korea. The top ten seafood imports from the United States by value in 2022 were Alaska pollack surimi, flat fish, roes, and milt of fish other than Alaska pollack, fish fins/heads/tails/maws/other edible fish offal, frozen Alaska pollack fish, fillet of plaice, live hagfish, other fish frozen, cod, and live lobster. For more information on the Korean seafood market please read the ATO Seoul Seafood Market Update 2023.

Great U.S. Wine and Food Pairing 2023

Between mid-June and September, ATO Seoul conducted a U.S. wine and food pairing promotion to introduce quality U.S wines and food recipes utilizing U.S. ingredients that go well with each type of wine. During the three month-long promotion project, nine postings consisting of articles and videos were deployed on various online platforms introducing 100 U.S. wines with recipes of foods utilizing U.S. ingredients such as beef, pork, blueberries, pecan, and cheese. On September 13, an in-person tasting event took place and attracted a large number of professionals in the food import and wine sectors in Korea.   A booklet was specially generated to provide information on the wines and foods that were introduced throughout the project.
Project partners: New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA), U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC), Wine 21.