K-Consumer Goods, Targeting Oceania... Signed an $18 million contract at the Australian Korean Wave Expo

The Korean Wave Expo was held in Melbourne, Australia to expand the export of consumer goods such as K-food and K-cosmetics.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 8th that they held the '2026 Melbourne Korean Wave Expo' and 'Australia K-Food Fair' at the Melbourne Showgrounds in Australia from the 5th to the 7th in cooperation with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT).

The Korean Wave Expo, which has been held a total of 28 times since 2010, is an export marketing project that combines Korean Wave cultural events and export consultations to support small and medium-sized companies entering overseas markets. This is the first time it has been held in Oceania.

At the B2B (business-to-business) export consultation held at the event, 101 domestic companies and 144 buyers from Oceania and Southeast Asia in the food, cosmetics, household goods, and fashion fields participated, conducting 1,235 consultations, and 32 export contracts and business agreements (MOUs) worth a total of $18 million (approximately KRW 24.5 billion) were signed.

At the B2C (business-to-consumer transaction) exhibition and promotion, about 10,000 local companies and consumers visited the event venue.

Domestic online and offline distribution platforms and reverse direct purchase platforms, including E-Mart and Shinsegae, conducted experiential marketing by operating booths for each company.

Australia is Korea's sixth largest trading partner and the largest trading partner in Oceania, with trade volume of $46.3 billion last year.

As a high-income consumer market with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $66,000, demand for consumer goods such as health, healthcare, and cosmetics has recently been increasing, and Korea's cosmetics exports to Australia increased from $73 million in 2023 to $166 million last year.

Using the Korean Wave Expo as an opportunity, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a meeting with local companies such as GS E&C, Amore Pacific, Hanwha Defense, and Samsung C&T to listen to their difficulties and seek support measures.

Na Seong-hwa, director of trade policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "Now that exports of $1 trillion are becoming visible, discovering new growth engines for our exports is more important than anything else. We will actively support K-consumer goods to grow into new export players by connecting the influence of the Korean Wave with actual export results."