The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS, Minister HAN Seongsook) announced on Monday, September 29, that it will implement the ‘K-Export Strategy Items’ cultivation program to select innovative products in promising consumer goods sectors and support their growth into global top-class products.

The ‘K-Export Strategy Items’ cultivation program is being promoted to support the global expansion of Korean SMEs beyond popular culture content into areas such as beauty and fashion, in response to the growing opportunities in the consumer goods sectors driven by the spread of the Korean Wave.

The number of SME exporters in Korea’s consumer goods sectors has steadily increased over the past four years, and they accounted for 94.9% of all exporting companies in 2024, showing active SME participation. In addition, in the top five consumer goods export categories of SMEs, K-culture-related sectors such as beauty and fashion held an overwhelming share of 75%.

Accordingly, the ‘K-Export Strategy Items’ will introduce an implementation system that establishes strategies specialized for the consumer goods sectors, complementing existing SME export support policies by linking private-sector marketing capabilities with government support measures.

The main details of the ‘K-Export Strategy Items’ cultivation program are as follows.

First, by 2030, 500 promising export products in the four major consumer goods sectors—beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and food (will be identified and designated as K-Export Strategy Items). Starting with the designation of around 80 items in 2025, a similar number will be designated annually over the next five years from 2026.

Second, large distribution companies and others will act as SME export boosters by supporting entry into global platforms or sharing global marketing expertise. To this end, Olive Young, Musinsa, Shinsegae DF, and Lotte Mart have become partner organizations through an open recruitment process.

Third, customized support will be provided by conducting corporate diagnostics on technology and management capacity and comprehensively linking policy measures necessary to strengthen competitiveness. In particular, practical difficulties such as regulatory compliance, logistics challenges, and intellectual property (IP) protection and utilization will be addressed in cooperation with relevant ministries.

Fourth, the program will establish these items as national representative products with premium status. By comprehensively reflecting domestic and global consumer preferences and growth potential, it will support raising awareness through measures such as setting up special exhibition halls at large-scale sales events.

LEE Soon-bae, Director General for Global Growth Policy, stated, “The cultivation of ‘K-Export Strategy Items’ is being pursued with the goal of expanding the global reach of Korean SME products by leveraging Korea’s soft power.” He added, “We will enhance government support to focus on helping SMEs penetrate overseas markets.”

Meanwhile, companies wishing to participate in 2025 ‘K-Export Strategy Items’ program will be recruited from Tuesday, September 30 to Friday, October 17. Details such as the program announcement and application can be found on the Fanfandaero website (https://fanfandaero.kr).