K-food shifts focus to US hypermarkets, Chinese 'punk wellness' trend

The government has reset its strategy in order to accomplish this year’s K-food exports goal of $16 billion, setting specific goals for different export markets. With exports having reached $8.25 billion as of the end of July, and instant noodles alone accounting for $1 billion of the total, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on Thursday that the second half of the year is “the last opportunity to determine whether the goal is accomplished or not.” Planned measures range from expanding exports and catering to the needs of overseas markets to providing financial support for Korean exporters and responding swiftly to non-tariff barriers in export markets. Plans were finalized at the third meeting of a private-public Korean food export committee meeting in Seoul, which was joined by officials from eight ministries, representatives of major companies including CJ, Samyang Foods, Daesang and Nongshim, and officials from agencies related to agriculture, fresh produce exports and tourism promotion. The updated export measures have been recalibrated to be region-spec