By Hong Angie
Photos = Hong Angie

The Hallyu (Korean Wave) effect is fueling surging exports of beverages and gim (seaweed).

The public agency Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp. on April 1 said overseas shipments of beverages last year rose 11.5% from 2022 to USD 572.33 million.

By year, such exports had declined from USD 422.03 million in 2019 to USD 410.42 million in 2020, but jumped to USD 485.1 million in 2021, USD 513.31 million in 2022 and over USD 572 million last year.

China was the biggest market for the products with USD 121.53 million (21.2%), followed by the U.S. (USD 83.34 million), Cambodia (USD 53.94 million) and Vietnam (USD 53.78 million).

In the first two months of this year, beverage exports jumped 28% to USD 94.17 million year on year. 

Exports of gim also saw a steep rise thanks to rising global demand.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on March 31 said such shipments in the first two months of the year jumped 28.1% year on year to USD 141.36 million. Export volume also rose 15.3% to 6,074 tons.

Gim exports to the U.S. and China each surged more than 40%.

The U.S. was the biggest market for the seaweed with USD 28.18 million, followed by China with USD 23.13 million and Japan USD 22.98 million.

Gim exports to Thailand in January and February rose 4.7% from the same period last year. Because of competition to secure dried gim as a raw ingredient driving up prices, the export amount surged 36% to USD 13.79 million, making the Southeast Asian country the fourth-biggest market for the item.

As Korea's biggest seafood export, gim last year saw overseas shipments rise 22.2% to break KRW 1 trillion for the first time.

shong9412@korea.kr