The Korea Food Industry Association held a K-Food convergence event at the Korean Ambassador's Residence in Egypt on Monday, co-hosted with the Korea-Africa Foundation, the association announced Tuesday. The event was attended by a K-Food Egypt market exploration delegation comprising officials from 16 food companies, including association member firms Nongshim, Daesang and Binggrae.
The event was organized in two parts: a B2B export consultation session followed by a B2C tasting event. The B2B export consultation session featured one-on-one business meetings with Egyptian buyers and networking events with industry leaders. A total of 80 participants from 51 companies attended, ranging from major hypermarkets in Egypt to food manufacturers, restaurant franchises, food and beverage (F&B) service platforms, logistics and distribution chains, and business consulting firms. The event generated approximately 160 consultations, with a total consultation value of around $8.5 million.
The B2C tasting event featured tasting booths set up by each company. An experience booth was also arranged where participants could make bibimbap and hwachae alongside an Egyptian Korean cuisine chef. Approximately 200 people attended the event, including officials from Egypt's Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, representatives of the Egyptian Commercial Service (ECS) which supports trade and investment in Egypt, prominent local influencers and Korean Wave fans.
The event was held as K-Culture gains global popularity and Africa's consumer goods market draws increasing attention. It also reflects ongoing collaboration between the association and the Korea-Africa Foundation, which signed a memorandum of understanding last year for cooperation on K-Food's expansion into Africa.
"This event served as a valuable opportunity to directly experience the diversity and appeal of Korean food and to understand each other's cultures," said Park Jin-sun, chairman of the Korea Food Industry Association. "The association will continue working to ensure that cooperation between the food industries of Korea and Egypt continues to expand." Kim Young-chae, chairman of the Korea-Africa Foundation, said, "For Korea, Egypt is more than a simple partner; it is an important country with which we can strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation. I hope today's event will connect consumers and companies from both countries and lead to substantive and sustained cooperation between the two nations."
Meanwhile, the Korea Food Industry Association signed a business cooperation MOU with the Korea-Africa Foundation in September last year for K-Food's expansion into Africa and for Korea-Africa food business exchange and cooperation. The Korea-Africa Foundation is a public institution under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, established to promote Korea-Africa friendship and strengthen substantive cooperation. It carries out activities including support for cultural and human exchanges, trade promotion and policy research between Korea and Africa.
