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CJ CheilJedang capitalises on Korean culture boom with new European StartLife partnership
17 Mar 2022Seizing on growing demand for Korean cultural exports including “Squid Game, kimchi and Korean barbeque,” Korean food and bio company CJ CheilJedang has partnered Europe’s agrifoodtech accelerator StartLife to expand the worldwide presence of Korean foods.
“The world is clearly ready for Korea,” said Heiko Oertling, R&D hub manager at the new CJ research centre in the Netherlands. “Now is our moment, and we want to seize it.”
The partnership will also allow CJ Group’s CJ CheilJedang to “benefit from European innovations for the global market,” according to a StartLife press release earlier in March, providing a gateway to Asian markets for European startups with novel food technologies.
The move comes as Korean cultural exports continue to grow in popularity globally. Beside traction in the media, with TV shows and rapidly growing global sales for ‘K-pop’ music, demand for Korean food is booming.
For instance in Southeast Asia and India, Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) recently marked a 9% uptick in exports from 2019 to 2020, reaching $1.56 billion.
Sharing the health
CJ CheilJedang went on to stress the purported nutritional benefits of Korean cuisine, in which fermented ingredients are a staple.
“Culturally, Korea is unique in terms of cooking and especially fermentation,” Oertling said. “The ambition is to leverage this, and adapt it to local tastes. We want to bring Korean food to a broader audience, including all of its health and nutritional benefits.”
It is not the only Korean business looking to capitalise on growing demands for local foods by adapting products to suit palettes in other regions.
Seoul-headquartered food company Daesang is making “continuous efforts for the globalisation of Korean food,” according to its website.
The company has modified products to suit international preferences. For instance, its Indonesian brand Mamasuka launched a range of dried salted seaweed snacks in Korean flavours after finding Indonesians preferred this to the traditional Korean use of seaweed (as an accompaniment to white rice), according to The Korea Economic Daily.
The new StartLife partnership could also see CJ CheilJedang sharing expertise in algae cultivation, or in tastes and textures for meat substitutes. The company expressed interest in gaining “new perspectives” on alternative proteins and sustainable food systems through its new European base.
As demand for Korean exports is rocketing, so too is the demand for meat substitutes with rising popularity of plant-based diets. According to a 2021 study by Boston Consulting Group and Blue Horizon Corporation, the market for alternative meat, eggs, dairy and seafood products is set to hit upwards of $290 billion by 2035.
Creating an avenue into the Asian market
Beside increasing the global presence of Korean foods, the partnership is intended to create an avenue into the Asian market for StartLife’s European startup network, “especially those involved in health and nutrition and the protein transition”.
StartLife’s global partnership manager, Caroline Bijkerk, welcomed the addition of “Korea’s leading food company” to the startup community. “Startups can take advantage of this gateway to Korea and other Asian markets and the many potential synergies with CJ CheilJedang, including new product developments and future supplier-customer relationships,” she said.
Oertling added that CJ CheilJedang is keen to play a part in StartLife’s ecosystem, with goals to attract talent in “innovation and training,” adding the CJ research centre’s location in Wageningen, the Netherlands, is “an ideal location for that”.
“We want to link with innovative startups, partners and companies and then produce new offerings that bring a benefit to consumers, whether for health, convenience or sustainability.”
CJ CheilJedang’s interests span the supply chain, “from feed to finished product, as well as technologies and raw materials for more sustainable food production,” according to the press statement, which lists StartLife contact details for startups looking to work with the Korean food maker.