Pet Food Trade Mission to SuperZoo in Las Vegas in August 2024

ATO Seoul led a trade mission with 13 pet food buyers and distributors from eight Korean companies to SuperZoo, one of the world largest pet industry trade shows, held in Las Vegas, Nevada in August 2024. The trade mission aimed to discover the latest market trends and explore business opportunities. Organized by ATO Seoul, the program included meetings with U.S. companies and visits to pet food specialized distribution channels and a manufacturing facility to gain insights in the pet food businesses. The Korean buyers successfully engaged with many U.S. companies, leading to multiple purchasing contracts. In a follow-up survey, participants reported meeting with over 158 U.S. companies, with projected purchase contracts valued at $3,120,000 within the next 12 months.

Korean Food Ingredient Trade Mission to IFT Food Expo 2024

ATO Seoul organized a delegation of Korean food ingredient buyers to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Event and Food Expo, held in Chicago, Illinois. The delegation consisted of 13 buyers from 5 food processing ingredient import distribution companies. IFT Food Expo, hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), is one of industry’s largest trade show exhibiting the latest products and trends in the food ingredient, food safety & quality, technology, equipment, processing, and packaging sector. Through the show and the market tour arranged by ATO, Korean buyers were able to improve their understanding on US brands, food trends, products, and network with industry stakeholders.

As a result of this reverse trade mission, the participants successfully conducted 86 business meetings with U.S. exhibitors. According to the post-activity survey, three out of five buyers answered that they have signed 7 contracts at the show (6.4 million USD). The other two responded that they are communicating with the U.S. suppliers to sign the contract. The buyers signed contracts for the following products: WPC, WPI, lactose, colostrum protein, frozen blueberry, frozen organic blueberry, dried blueberry, dried cranberry, seven berries concentrate, raspberry concentrate, butter, cheese. In addition, four buyers have responded that they expect a total of 14.2 million USD sales within 12 months.

Korean Specialty Food Trade Mission to Summer Fancy Food Show 2024 Leads to $2.22 million in Potential Export Sales

ATO Seoul recruited a delegation of 11 Korean buyers from 6 import distributors for fancy food products to attend the Specialty Food Association’s 68^th Summer Fancy Food Show (SFFS) held in New York, NY, June 23-25, 2024. SFFS is the leading trade show in serving up the newest and best in specialty food and beverage, and attracts thousands of diverse makers, buyers, brokers, distributors, and industry professionals from across the U.S. and the globe. Guided by the Food Export USA Northeast head office, ATO Seoul arranged retail market tours to enhance the delegation’s understanding of U.S. food brands, trends, and new products. During the three show days, delegation members enjoyed delicious product discoveries, had more than 80 fruitful networking/business meetings, and found out 37 new serious contacts showing inspiring business opportunities. According to the post-activity survey, the mission resulted in a couple of contracts for U.S. fancy food signed on the spot ($400,000) as well as an estimate of $1.82 million in potential purchases from U.S. food suppliers over the next 12 months.