Suncheon City Achieves $100,000 Export of Specialty Plum Processed Products

Rapid Increase in U.S. Exports of Maesil Seed Hotteok Due to Hallyu and K-Food Boom
Overcoming Domestic Market Limits of Fresh Maesil with Development of Hwangmaesil Convergence Products

Plum Seed Hotteok (Photo by Suncheon City)

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Heo Seok) announced on the 9th that its specialty processed plum products have achieved $100,000 in exports.

Suncheon developed and commercialized the well-ripened ‘Hwangmaesil’ as a regional strategic processed food, and after signing a distribution contract with the Ultarimall LA direct store in the United States last year, began exporting Hwangmaesil syrup as well as plum konjac jelly and plum hotteok.

Plum hotteok started its first export in March, and on the 9th, 15,000 units were shipped for export to the United States, totaling 40,000 units exported over four shipments.

In particular, Hwangmaesil syrup has been recognized for its taste and aroma quality, exporting 1,500 bottles to the United States every three months, and expanding export countries to Australia and Thailand, showing rapid export growth from $25,000 last year to $100,000 this year.

Additionally, plum konjac jelly developed from Hwangmaesil is gaining attention not only in domestic direct transactions such as local food stores and shop-in-shops but also as an export product.

Fresh plums are also being exported to Europe and Southeast Asia with 100 tons shipped, overcoming the limitations of the domestic plum market through exports.

A Suncheon City Department of Eco-friendly Agriculture official stated, “We will do our best to increase farmers’ income by securing market competitiveness through improving plum quality and diversifying domestic and international sales channels.”