Jeongeup City Signs $300,000 MOU in Los Angeles, USA

Expanding Overseas Sales Channels for Jeongeup's Specialty Rehmannia Products

Jeongeup City in North Jeolla Province signed a business agreement (MOU) worth $300,000 in Los Angeles (LA), USA, to expand overseas sales channels for its representative agricultural specialty product, Rehmannia, and achieved the milestone of promoting exports of processed Rehmannia products worth approximately 170 million won.

Jeongeup City signed a business agreement (MOU) worth $300,000 in Los Angeles (LA), USA, to expand overseas sales channels for its representative agricultural specialty product, Rehmannia. Photo by Jeongeup City

According to the city on October 30, Deputy Mayor Yoo Hoyoun, who also heads the Jeongeup Rehmannia Convergence Project Group, and five other city officials visited Los Angeles from October 17 to 22. During their visit, they operated a promotional booth at the LA Korean Festival and confirmed the potential of Jeongeup Rehmannia in the local market.

The export volume this time amounts to about 170 million won. The exported products include more than ten processed items such as Rehmannia tea, steamed Rehmannia brown rice, and steamed Rehmannia brown rice snacks, all made with Jeongeup Rehmannia as the main ingredient, as well as Jeongeup Ssanghwa tea, Ssanghwa cereal, and Ssanghwa nurungji.

At the LA Korean Festival, the city operated a promotional booth for Jeongeup's agricultural specialty products, showcasing a variety of processed Rehmannia products. Jeongeup Rehmannia attracted significant attention from local consumers, demonstrating its competitiveness and potential in the US market.

This export initiative for promoting Jeongeup Rehmannia overseas is part of a project funded by the Agricultural and Fisheries Cooperation Foundation's Rural Win-Win Cooperation Fund, which supports collaboration between large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, and the agricultural and fisheries sectors.

The business agreements were signed on October 18 and 20 with major US distributors such as Home Shopping World, Jeil Nokyong Geonjae, and Hannam Chain. This is considered the first step in establishing a global distribution base for processed products made from Jeongeup Rehmannia.

Under the agreement, the city will provide administrative and financial support to expand the supply of agricultural specialty products, while the distributors will identify promising Jeongeup agricultural products for the US market, expand local sales, and build distribution networks.

Based on this agreement, the city plans to actively promote and sell a variety of processed products in the US market, including Jeongeup Ssanghwa tea, Ssanghwa nurungji, Ssanghwa snacks, and various types of steamed and dried Rehmannia teas. To this end, the city will focus on securing local distribution and marketing channels in Los Angeles, the largest Korean consumer market in the US, to establish a stable export foundation going forward.

A city official stated, "This business agreement marks the first step toward expanding Jeongeup Rehmannia into the global market," adding, "We will continue to promote the excellence of Jeongeup Rehmannia to local consumers and carry out ongoing promotional marketing activities through business agreements."

The official also said, "We will do our best to continuously cooperate with local distribution networks, gradually expand export volumes, and help increase the actual income of local farmers and businesses."