This year's Seoul Food, the largest in the event's history, will run from June 10-13 at Exhibition Center 1 and 2 of the Korea International Exhibition Center, aka KINTEX, in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province. (Event's official website)

By Koh Hyunjeong

This year's Seoul Food, a leading food exhibition in the country, was opened on June 10 as the biggest in scale in the event's 43-year history.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on June 10 announced their hosting of the expo from June 10-13 at Exhibition Center 1 and 2 of the Korea International Exhibition Center, aka KINTEX, in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province.

The event is one of Asia's four largest food exhibitions along with those in Shanghai, Bangkok and Tokyo. The Seoul event has attracted 1,639 food companies from 45 countries with 300 foreign buyers participating in export consultations, up 20% from last year.

Export consultations worth an estimated USD 250 million will be held, up 25% from last year's edition, given the large number of buyers from Southeast Asia and the U.S., two regions where Korean food is hugely popular.

"Our agricultural and fishery exports have grown 5% annually on average over the past three years and are nearing the era of USD 10 billion," said Joo Won-chul, director-general of the Food Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

"We will actively help the development of customized products, find buyers in new markets, conduct on- and offline marketing, and respond to external risks faced by companies."

hjkoh@korea.kr