Korea hungry for more Lao agricultural products
Korea hungry for more Lao agricultural products
The Republic of Korea is supporting the expansion of Lao agricultural exports for the Korean market in an effort to boost trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.
According to a press release from the Asean-Korea Centre in Korea on Thursday, the expansion will give more opportunities for quality Lao agricultural products to be introduced into the Korean market.
The centre has announced it is hosting a Korean market access seminar for Lao agricultural products on January 28 in Vientiane, in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos.
The seminar will be aimed at strengthening the product development capacity of Lao agricultural companies while supporting their expansion into the Korean market so as to introduce more diverse products to Korean consumers.
At the seminar, agriculture experts from Korea will give lectures to some 60 participants consisting of Lao business people and related sector government officials.
The topics to be covered include the development of health food using Lao herbs and spices, access to the Korean traditional medicine market for Lao herbs and spices, measures for food processing with appropriate technology, Korean market access for Lao coffee and other issues.
It is expected the lectures will be particularly useful and practical for the participants as real success stories of product development and exporting will be shared.
Laos, as a producer of a wide range of quality herbs and spices, ranks in the top 20-30 range among 225 countries in the biodiversity or plant diversity rankings released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The country also cultivates premium grade coffee on the Bolaven Plateau, an area located in the southern region with an altitude of over 1,000 metres.
Although high quality Lao agricultural foods such as coffee and herbs are not very familiar to Korean people as yet, they could have a competitive edge in the Korean market if developed into products that satisfy consumers' tastes.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Laos has identified coffee as a strategic product in boosting the country's social and economic development.
The total coffee growing area in Laos is about 87,000 ha, of which 77,000 ha are on the fertile Bolaven Plateau. Total output is about 40,000 tonnes per annum. About 30,000 tonnes of green beans and milled coffee is exported, earning more than US$70 million in 2013-14.
A coffee festival was held last year to prepare growers and producers for the Asean Economic Community later this year and membership of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) further down the line. Representatives from some 178 coffee and agricultural outlets, 69 companies including 58 from Laos and 11 from other countries attended the event.
