Watch the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service highlight agri-food market opportunities in South Korea.
Video transcript
[Upbeat electronic music begins.]
[The camera zooms in on a timelapse of Seoul. A blue bar with text appears over the screen.]
Text on screen: Canadian Agri-Food Trade Commissioners
[The image switches to a timelapse of a city street. The text changes.]
Text on screen: Market Opportunity South Korea
[Cut to Tommy Couture. Text appears on a blue bar beneath him.]
Text on screen: Tommy Couture Trade Commissioner, Agriculture and Agri-Food
Tommy Couture: Hi, I’m Tommy Couture. I’m a trade commissioner based in Seoul, South Korea.
[Cut to the sun sinking over Seoul.]
Korea is a fascinating country.
[Cut to a fast timelapse of a busy crosswalk. Text appears on screen.]
Text on screen: 50.8 Million People
There are more than 50.8 million people.
[Cut to another busy crosswalk. More text appears.]
Text on screen: 11th largest economy in the world
It is the 11th largest economy in the world, 4th in Asia.
[The image switches to the Bongeunsa Temple. New text appears.]
Text on screen: 4th in Asia
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
South Korea is the 6th largest importers of Canadian products.
[Cut to a shipyard. A factory worker handling fish. A factory worker filling a bottle of oil.]
[Cut to a shot of a city at night.]
Half of them are all living in the greater metropolitan city of Seoul…
[Close-up of the city, Seoul.]
[Cut to an aerial timelapse of a busy intersection.]
… and 10 million of them are living downtown.
[Cut to another rapid timelapse of foot traffic on the street.]
So it is a vibrant city…
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
… a lot of infrastructure, a lot of things going on…
[Cut to a pan over the city.]
You can see some homogeneity.
[Cut to meat cooking on a grill. Shrimp and seafood cooking on another grill.]
And that is reflected as well in the consumer behaviour as well.
[Cut to lobster on a grill.]
If you have a really good product and can reach those consumers, you can have a really good success in that market.
[Cut to chopsticks lifting pork from a bowl.]
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
Korea loves Canada brand.
[Cut to a man in a canoe on a lake near mountains.]
Canada food has a good reputation, which is safe and fresh.
[Cut to a hand pouring blueberries into a jar. Close up on the blueberries.]
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
South Korea is a really well-connected country.
[Cut to a timelapse of cranes loading a cargo ship. A pan over hundreds of shipping crates. Text appears.]
Text on screen: 45 free-trade agreements.
They have more than 45 free-trade agreements in the world.
[Cut to a new timelapse of a shipyard.]
It is a pretty competitive market.
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
They import around 60 to 70% of what they consume in the country…
[Cut to a train zipping by on a bridge. Then to a glowing map of the Asia-Pacific region.]
… so they have many different links with countries in the Asia-Pacific region…
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
… and for sure they have a really well-developed global value chain in the region.
[Cut to a woman touching a touch screen. A graphic of a shopping cart appears.]
Since 2010, e-commerce grew 14.4% annually.
[Cut to a woman using a tablet. Text appears.]
Text on screen: 14.4% annual growth
That growth represents 88 billion dollars in 2016.
[Cut to a woman holding her credit card and shopping on her phone. Text appears.]
Text on screen: $88 Billion in 2016
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
Before exporting, you have to keep in mind that you may have to adapt your product, your packaging, and make smaller portions.
[Cut to wrapped food going by on conveyor belts.]
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
It is really important to develop connection within the market by traveling to the market, meet people, contact them regularly, meet with suppliers, distributors, retailers, and even food services actors.
[Cut to a plane at a loading dock. A group of people toasting with beers. Three people in business attire shaking hands.]
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
What I like about my job is really to put people into touch.
[Cut to a timelapse of two ships being loaded at a shipyard. Cut closer on one of the ships.]
I like to get requests from Korean importers or Canadian exporters and make sure their needs are met.
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
And after a few weeks, you can see the result of your work, you can see that there are some new Canadian products on the shelves.
[Cut to a display of seafood. Then to boxes with a maple leaf on the shelves of a grocery store.]
[Cut back to Tommy Couture.]
For a company that expects to penetrate the market, it is really important to do your homework. There’s a lot of information available on many different websites about South Korea.
[Cut to a busy street in South Korea.]
Learn about the culture, and make sure you contact the trade commissioner services, and they will help you to go through all those first steps.
[Cut to a fast timelapse of a city street. Text appears over the video on a blue bar.]
Text on screen: Contact us today
[The text changes.]
Text on screen: tradecommissioner.gc.ca
[Cut to the Canada wordmark.]
Text on screen: (c) Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food (2017)
[The upbeat electronic music fades out.]
[Fade to black.]