News:
New Zealand Food Week in Korea and local interest in New Zealand food and beverage offerings has kept the NZTE Seoul office out of the kitchen and in the frying pan.
Cheesy puns aside, food and beverage trade to Korea increased 18% to NZ$593 million during 2016, a period representing the first 12 months of trade under the Korea-New Zealand FTA.
Our second annual Food Week(external link) was an action packed multi-event spectacle reaching more than 500 industry professionals and countless consumers. NZTE worked with more than 50 New Zealand food and beverage companies to deliver a series of events for both businesses and consumers to attend. We had YouTube vloggers, power bloggers and conventional media support Food Week with the centrepiece for businesses being the New Zealand Food Connection(external link) event. Arirang TV provided some excellent coverage of the event (external link)this month.
For consumers, New Zealand wine festivals were held in Seoul(external link) and Busan(external link) alongside a Facebook event (external link)that included countless food and beverage prizes alongside dinner with A-list Korean movie star Ha Ji-won(external link), return flights to New Zealand and Skyline luge rides.
“The potential of the Korean market for New Zealand food and beverage has been clearly signalled following impressive year on year trade growth,” said Trade Commissioner Ryan Freer.
“The good news for food and beverage exporters does not stop there. Tariff reductions will continue to take place on the first of January, each year, until 2029, when FTA benefits will be fully implemented.”