Gyeongbuk Province Quarter Horse Buying Delegation to the United States: April 3-8, Columbia MO, Lexington KY

A delegation of horse industry leaders of Gyeongbuk province, South Korea traveled to the United States, April 3 - 8 under co-sponsorship of ATO Seoul and Gyeongbuk provincial government. Through collaboration with the U.S. Livestock Genetics Export (USLGE), the delegation visited Columbia, MO for business meetings and tours with potential suppliers of quarter horses. In addition, the delegation visited many other horse industry facilities during the trip in Missouri and Kentucky, including equine education/research programs in local colleges, a veterinarian hospital, a therapeutic riding center, horse theme parks and museums, an auction house, and racetracks to learn about advanced knowledge and practices that the U.S. horse industry has to offer. The delegation is expected to generate new sales of 100 American quarter horses to the province within 2016. More importantly, the working relationship developed between the Gyeongbuk horse industry leaders and the American horse industry from the trip is likely to help build a solid foundation for long-term contribution of American horses in the development of local horse industry in Gyeongbuk province in the coming years.

Grand Finale Competition of the United Tastes of America Asia Chef Challenge 2015/2016: March 23, Hattori Nutrition & Culinary School, Tokyo, Japan

The Korean champion team of ‘the United Tastes of America Asia Chef Challenge 2015/2016 – South Korea Prelim’, a GBI project co-organized by ATOs in the region and the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), participated in the Grand Finale Competition that took place in Tokyo, Japan on March 23, 2016 under ATO Seoul’s CSSF budget. Four other national champion teams representing China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan also participated in the competition. The four course meal presented by the contestant teams incorporated 19 mandatory ingredients donated by sponsor USDA cooperators. The Korean team won the Best Appetizer prize in the finale competition as a result. The Grand Champion prize of the competition was awarded to the team China as they exhibited the highest level of culinary skills, creativity, and full yet balanced tastes in their work. Team Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong won the prize for Best Soup, Best Main Dish, and Best Dessert respectively. The overall event successfully accomplished its goal of promoting the value, quality and diversity of American products to the target audience in the HRI foodservice sector in Asia.

Natural Product Expo West (NPEW) 2016 Show

ATO recruited and supported 5 Korean organic & natural products importers to attend the Natural Product Expo West (NPEW) 2016 Show held in Anaheim, California March 11-13, 2016, to develop the opportunities for trade. Post activity survey resulted in a $580,000 sales estimate from mission members over the next 12 months. Their products of interest were super foods, raw ingredients for manufacturing of domestic products, snacks, organic canned tomato sauce, chips, sauces, organic fruit freeze dried powder, organic grain powder, organic fruit NFC juice, organic baby food/baby snack, organic oil including bulk pack as well as new organic products. The market tour was arranged with input from the mission members themselves to visit such places as Whole Foods, COSTCO, Trader Joes, Albertson’s, Sprout’s and others during the trip to understand market trends and find new products to trade. Also, the ATO LES developed new Korean-buyer contacts for ATO Seoul who expressed desire to use ATO services to improve their results at this trade show in the future.