"프리미엄 시장 공략" 해외로 뻗어나가는 생수들<br /><br />South Korean bottled water companies are entering foreign markets on the back of the Korean wave and the popularity of Korean snacks.<br />They're looking to reach premium customers in Vietnam and China.<br />Park Se-young has more.<br />Bottles of water with Korean labels are being sold at a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City.<br />Korean bottled water companies began exporting their products to China and Vietnam in June.<br />They've entered 600 stores in Vietnam so far and plan to extend that number to around four-thousand in August.<br />"With Korea’s image and consumers' increasing interest in health after COVID-19, we’ve been getting responses from young city workers at convenience stores."<br />Another company targeting the Chinese market established a factory there in 2015 and its sales grew 20 percent in 2019.<br />"We had sales growth of 20 percent in 2019 and have a double-digit growth target for this year as well."<br />With Korean companies actively targeting markets abroad, bottled water exports grew over 26 percent from five-point-49 million U.S. dollars in 2014 to six-point-95 million dollars in 2019.<br />Chinese people consume a lot of bottled water because they do not trust their country's tap water, …and interest in high-quality water in China and Southeast Asia has increased along with the rise in income levels.<br />The market has a bright outlook due to the increased awareness of Korean food companies and growing demand for daily necessities amid the COVID-19 outbreak.<br />"With the recent Korean Wave, the fact that the confectionary and water comes from Korea is working to our advantage."<br />However, it will be a challenge to gain market dominance ...with French water companies accounting for more than half of the imported bottled water market in China and Chinese brands also jumping into the market.<br />Park Se-young, Arirang News.<br />
