A group of South Korean fisheries cooperatives is looking to enter additional overseas markets in the Middle East and Latin America with the aim of reducing reliance on the Chinese and Taiwanese markets.
Noh Dong-jin, Chairman of South Korea's National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC), recently told reporters that his group is hoping to increase its export figures by tapping markets with high growth potential besides mainland China, the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARs), and Taiwan.
Mr Noh also said that plans are in place to relocate some of the NFFC's trade support centres from China and Taiwan to the Middle East and Latin America beginning this year, and that a specific set of strategies will be implemented for each of the two regions.
The NFFC presently operates 11 of its trade support centres in eight countries. Four such centres are located in the Greater China region, which encompasses mainland China, the two SARs, and Taiwan.
Continuing to concentrate its trade support centres in Greater China is making it "difficult [for the NFFC] to increase exports significantly," Mr Noh remarked.