Korean sauce captures the taste of the world… China is a promising market

-While interest in Korean Wave is expanding to Korean food, a survey found that Korea’s sauce exports reached a record high last year.

According to the’Promising AI Report-Sauces’ released on the 5th by the Institute for International Trade and Trade of the Korea International Trade Association, Korea’s sauce exports last year recorded $31.72 million, a 25.8% increase from the previous year.

Sauce exports have continued to grow at 8~11% every year since 2016. Last year, the homecook trend spread, especially due to Corona 19, and it recorded a growth rate more than doubled than the previous year.

Other sauces exports, which account for 55.5% of the total sauces exports, increased 33.6% compared to 2019. It is interpreted that the overseas popularization of Korean sauces, including chicken sauce, tteokbokki, bulgogi, and buldak sauce, was also reflected in export performance. AI evaluated nine indicators including gross domestic product (GDP), population, and import growth rate by major countries. As a result, the market with the highest export potential of Korean sauces was selected as China, which received 84.1 points. The United States (81.6 points) and Russia (80.8 points) were followed, and China is the second-largest country to export Korean sauces after the United States. Last year, 20.2% of all sauces were exported to China. The share of Korean sauces in the Chinese sauce import market rose from 14.9% in 2016 to 24.9% last year, keeping the No. 1 share.

Thai sauces, which have the second largest market share in China, declined slightly from 12.9% to 12.6% over the same period, proving that Korean sauces are strengthening their dominance in the Chinese market.

“Recently, Kimchi-flavored powder has topped sales in Amazon’s new seasoning category, and hot pepper paste sauce hamburgers are sold in famous American hamburger chains,” said Park Ga-Hyun, a senior researcher at the Korea International Trade Association.

He then emphasized, “As the Korean Wave, which originated in Korean dramas and K-pop, spreads to the entire culture, including Korean food, we need to develop products that suit the taste of locals and target the overseas market by strengthening the brand.”

Meanwhile, the Korea International Trade Association, which publishes an AI report for promising items every week, included a list of buyers in major promising markets and import information from the source category to further strengthen support for Korean companies’ export expansion and market diversification.

[서울=뉴시스]