Indonesia again participated in Seoul Coffee Expo 2017 on 6-9 April 2017 and then at the Convention & Exhibition Center (COEX), Seoul, South Korea. Indonesian arabica coffee from Toraja, Java, Mandailing and Gayo grabbed special attention and sold well to buyers.

This year, Indonesia is honored as a Guest of Country at the fair. The Indonesian pavilion featured among others Luwak coffee, specialty coffee arabica, green bean, roasted, blend, brewing coffee from 9 selected companies and exporters.

“As a Guest Country, the Indonesian Pavilion is placed in a place of honor and strategic, the best Indonesian coffee gets the main coverage of local media at the implementation of Seoul Coffee Expo 2017,” said Director General of National Export Development, Ministry of Commerce, Arlinda through official information Saturday / 4/2017).

Arlinda explained, in the last five years a positive trend occurred in Indonesia’s coffee exports to South Korea.

“In 2012-2016 growth is increased by 14.39 percent which can be regarded as one of the performance of Indonesian coffee exports,” added Arlinda.

The Indonesian Pavilion at this year’s exhibition is a collaboration between Indonesia Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) Busan with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) Seoul and Directorate General of National Export Development (Ditjen PEN) Ministry of Commerce.

As a Guest of Country, Indonesia not only exhibits coffee products, but also organizes various events to enliven the pavilion through coffee cupping, coffee seminars, and video screenings of Indonesian coffee in the framework of nation branding Indonesia.

Coffee cupping is held for products that have undergone a rigorous selection process. The coffee types featured on coffee cupping include Sumatera Arabica Aceh-Gayo Coffee, Sumatera Arabica Mandailing Lintong Coffee, Sumatera Arabica Kerinci Natural Coffee, Sumatera Arabica Bengkulu Kaba Mountain Coffee.

Then, West Java Preanger Agro Jabar Arabica Coffee, Java Arabica IJEN Bondowoso Coffee, Flores Arabica Bajawa Coffee, Sulawesi Arabica Toraja Coffee, Flores Robusta Natural Manggarai Coffee, and Java Robusta Temanggung Baron Coffee.

During the exhibition recorded a potential transaction of 270,000 US dollars. The possibility of transaction value will increase because of the many requests / inquiries from potential buyers that must be followed up by the participants.

Market opportunity

The market opportunity of coffee products in South Korea is still quite large with the value of imports of South Korean coffee from the world in 2016 amounted to 562.77 million US dollars.

According to Arlinda, Indonesia needs to improve the image of coffee taste and unique uniqueness that is not owned by other countries to South Korean society.

In addition, the habit of drinking coffee has also become a trend among Korean youth so many new coffee shops are popping up in South Korea.

Seoul Coffee Expo is an international exhibition starting in 2012 featuring premium products of less than 250 companies for 800 booths including Brazil, Colombia, USA, Italy, Ghana, Kenya, India and South Korea.