Successful launching of Dutch veal and beef in South Korea during the 14th Coex Food Week, 20~23 November 2019
Agriculture team of the embassy in Seoul organized a Holland Pavilion during the 14th Coex Food Week 20~23 November 2019) focusing on the very first Dutch veal and beef in Korea. Coex Food Week is the largest Food Exhibition in the second half of the year in Seoul. It is a global food exhibition which attracts more consumers than any other food expos due to its convenient location. It also provides a business platform that will increase B2B performances in the food industry.
Coex Food Week
Background
The Netherlands finally opened the Korean beef/veal market as of 26 July 2019 by registering 9 beef/veal establishments to Korean authorities. Both beef and veal opened at once. Although together with Denmark, the Netherlands is one of the first two European countries which opened the market in Korea, it is the very first European country that started shipping its beef and veal to Korea. It took almost 13 years to open the market in Korea since the 1st official letter for market access of Dutch beef/veal was sent to MAFRA (Korean Ministry of Fishery, Rural Affairs and Agriculture) in 2006. Korea experienced a turmoil on US beef import and BSE (mad cow disease) in 2008. Since then, beef import has been a very sensitive issue in the Korean society, therefore the Netherlands has had difficulty in progressing the market access.
Since the market is open, the Netherlands Embassy could finally invite Dutch beef/veal companies to join the food expo for their launching event in Korea. With joint effort of COV, companies and the embassy, the Netherlands Pavilion became the most visible and popular booths among others.
Overview
During the Coex Food Week, 872 companies (63 overseas companies from 18 countries) exhibited for 4 days with 44,125 visitors.
VION for beef and VanDrie Group with three establishments for veal joined the Holland Pavilion during the expo. The visitors enjoyed the very accessible location of the pavilion and the veal and beef tasting by the Dutch chef throughout the expo period. Moreover the long que of visitors to taste the very first arrived fresh veal and beef into Korea made a strong impression to Korean buyers and the Dutch suppliers could collect immediate reactions from the consumers which drove potential sales to a successful close. In fact, each participating companies has had approximately 20 constructive meetings and made some business contracts during the expo.
Holland Pavilion also enjoyed the attention by the powerful influencers on Korean social network service. 5 BJ’s (active in Africa TV and Youtube) and 20 power-bloggers paid a visit and shared their experience with Dutch veal and beef at the pavilion. The positive news on Dutch veal and beef is spread in the Korean consumer market through these influencers.
Expo sketch
Networking evening
On the evening of 21 November, the Coex, as organizer of the Food Week, hosted a networking evening for Korean food related companies, foreign embassies and participants of the food tech conference. Embassy of the Netherlands sponsored this event by providing Dutch veal cuisine during the reception for 300 guests. Ambassador of the Netherlands in Korea delivered a speech promoting the fact that the Dutch beef and veal were entered the Korean market and the guests could enjoy the first healthy veal from the Netherlands at the reception.
Korean star chef Raymon Kim’s cooking show with Dutch veal
On 22 November, the embassy organized a special cooking demonstration by the Korean star chef Raymon Kim. Raymon Kim was asked to develop new recipes with Dutch veal for Korean consumers; Veal stew with Korean soybean sauce and veal tartare in Korean way. The event hall was crowded with 100 guests who enjoyed his live cooking show and tasting the two cuisines. Two of these recipes were distributed and expected to be widely promoted in Korea.
Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Korea H.E. Michael Reiterer also congratulated the first Dutch veal show case followed by the welcome speech of the agricultural counsellor, Gelare Nader.
Cooking Show sketch
Result
As a result of the above mentioned expo and side events, not only the Korean businesses but also the consumers are expected to have appreciate the high quality of Dutch beef and veal, which is produced under the highest animal health and welfare standards in the world.