Tuesday, March 3, 2020

2019 Coex Food Week



2019 Coex Food Week
November 20th ~ 23th, 2019
Coex, Seoul

Organized by Coex Co.,Ltd the Coex Food Week is supported by the Ministry of Trade Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. One of the largest food and beverage exhibitions, it has special events related to the industry such as the Seoul International Bakery Fair, Food Week Tech


Categories of Exhibits:

Food/Beverage
Machinery/Kitchen Utensils
Cooking Equipment/Kitchen Utensils
Package/Label, Store Facilities/Interior
Kitchen-Table Decor
Service/Online
HMR, Bakery,
Dessert,
Education/Sponsor,
Press and more.

2019 Exhibition Expectations

830+ exhibitors
53,000+ visitors

Exhibition Overview


The Coex Food Week exhibition shifted its focus compared to past years. The first floor (exhibition hall A, B) was focused on the domestic regions and its regional specialty. Compared to last year's exhibition the exhibition was more focused on domestic exhibitors compared to last year. There was a pavilion for Singapore and about five or more booths were from a different country, but it did not seem appealing and was at the far end of the exhibition hall. Compared to the Korean title of the exhibition translates as the ‘Seoul International Food Exhibition’ there were fewer international aspects than one would expect. The upper floor had various events and sectors such as a bakery competition, tea competition, dessert sector, beer sector, and other interesting food products.





Hall A had different regional specialties and a small number of international booths. Frankly speaking, my expectations for regional food products was not high considering that most of the packaging and branding is of low quality. However, this year was different. The exhibitors had invested extensively in branding, packaging and display.


    

Hall B was focused mainly on the Gyeonggi-do region and contained a display of the Korean table serve competition. Gyeonggi-do which is the metropolitan area surrounding Seoul has various known specialties.
  



Hall B also had a display area for the ‘Korea table setting competition,’ which showed various tables and settings from different regions. The most interesting was the setting based on North Korean style. There were also displays of various Korea traditional alcoholic beverages by region which have been attracting some attention overseas.




The last section of Hall B was the packaging section where packaging companies displayed their products. There were auto-packing systems, product packaging and boxes for final products. Similar to the trend of organic and ecofriendly foods, packaging material manufacturers also promoted packaging which was environment-friendly.   

  


Moving up to Hall D there were various sections from tea, dessert to beer. There was a section which was about nine booths all related to Korean desserts. Within Hall D there were a few other desserts, but the Korean traditional dessert sector was attracting visitors with neat plating and promotions.

  


At the food and beverage exhibition, it was hard to pass by the beer section where the displays were festooned with awards for beer. The beer section was designed as food stand and space was provided so that people could enjoy beer and some bar snacks during the exhibition.




The demand for tea has been growing in Korea recently and we were able to observe this demand at Coex Food Week. The 5th Korean Tea Blending competition, the 2nd Bosung Tea Masters Championship and the Global tea contest were held during this exhibition. Moreover, there were lines at booths that provided traditional tea tasting.




Hall C was related to the bakery industry. The ‘Top of Patissier in Asia’ was ongoing while all different types of bread, desserts and equipment were on display. 

  

Opportunities

The food & beverage industry is a market that will never disappear. Based on the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the production of food and beverages has decreased from KRW 50.3 trillion in 2014 to 49.7 trillion in 2017, but the total domestic sales of food and beverage products has increased. 50.6 trillion to 56.3 trillion within the same period.

However, there are numerous obstacles to overcome to enter the Korean market. Food inspections, tariffs and non-tariff barriers are somewhat manageable risks but there are unknown risks that are unpredictable such as the trade war between U.S. and China, the exchange rate, decreasing population, changes with the labor environment.    





If you would like to identify and capitalize on business opportunities in Korea, let IRC Guide your Way!  www.ircconsultingkorea.comJacob at lsh@ircconsultingkorea.com







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