Korean food machine makers witness K-food fever in Europe

VIENNA –  South Korea's small cooking machine and beauty product makers gained confidence in their product quality and discovered their ample potential in Europe at 2024 Korea Business Expo Vienna this week.

CreChef, a little-known Korean food machine maker, clinched three supply contracts just two hours after opening its booth at the expo on its first day of Oct. 29.

The contracts include 15 ramen cooking machines it sold to a Rumanian retailer, who will install them in his supermarkets.

Three shaved ice dessert machines will be shipped to a Servian owner of Korea food and dessert restaurants in his home country. The machines each go for 1 million to 2 million won ($725-$1,450).

“[European buyers] who became interested in Korean food after watching Korean dramas and shows visited our booth,” said Lee Hyung-man, chairman of CreChef.

“Entering the European market was our homework. I was surprised by their interest [in Korean food], which was stronger than expected,” he added.

At the annual event marking its 28th anniversary, 377 Korean small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) opened booths. The two-day exhibition drew about 5,000 visitors.

On Oct. 29 alone, they inked a total of 61.2 billion won in supply contracts.

Cooking machines such as instant ramen cookers and their components took the lion’s share of 20.9 billion won. Beauty and food products made up 17.6 billion won and 17.3 billion won, respectively.

“This is the first product fair in Europe that brought in more than 100 Korean small and medium-sized companies,” said an official of World Okta, a networking body for overseas Korean business owners. 

“Korean companies seeking to expand overseas were eager to participate,” he said.

The expo was jointly hosted by the World OKTA and The Korea Economic Daily to connect overseas Korea entrepreneurs with Korean SMEs.

Another Korea instant noodle machine maker secured $8 million worth of orders on Oct. 29, including a $5 million supply to Beauty Master, an operator of beauty product and food stores in the US.

Taylor Farms Co., under Hyungkuk F&B Co., signed a $5 million-memorandum of understanding with a Swiss food company to supply its signature prune juice. The juice, a best-seller in South Korea’s largest beauty store chain CJ Olive Young Corp., will be supplied to Lidl, a German supermarket chain.

Trading Lab, a vendor of Korean SMEs’ beauty products, sealed a $3 million contract with a Middle Eastern buyer on Oct. 29.

“Korean cosmetics and makeup are so popular that the term ‘glass skin’ was created in Europe and the Middle East,” said Park Jae-ran, a manager of Trading Lab. Glass skin means skin shining like glass.

“They chose products with good quality, regardless of brand.”

On Oct. 29, Korean SMEs discussed 1,097 cases of exports and imports, worth 135.7 billion won, with overseas buyers at the expo, according to World Okta.

Write to Woo-Sub Kim, Hyung-Chang Choi and Jae-Won Park at duter@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article