The K-SUUL Pavilion during the Vinexpo Asia 2026 / Courtesy of National Tax Service
The National Tax Service opened its first-ever overseas promotional pavilion for Korean alcoholic beverages at Vinexpo Asia 2026, a three-day trade fair running through Thursday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The 75-square-meter K-SUUL Pavilion houses 16 exhibition and tasting booths, bringing together 12 Korean liquor companies for direct consultations with international buyers. Participants range from traditional craft breweries and regional distillers to major spirits producers, reflecting the sudden breadth of the domestic industry.
Operated jointly by the tax agency and the Korea Alcohol and Liquor Industry Association, the pavilion is an integrated promotional platform intended to boost export competitiveness and expand global market access.
The 12 participating companies include winners of the inaugural K-SUUL Awards held last December, a competition that drew 366 products from 175 small and midsized Korean producers. Following rigorous document screening and blind tastings, the finalists were selected by public vote and are being showcased in a dedicated section of the pavilion.
While Korea’s liquor exports have grown annually, the country still faces an alcohol trade deficit exceeding 1 trillion won ($664.7 million), making overseas promotion a strategic priority for tax officials.
On the sidelines of the fair, National Tax Service officials plan to meet with Vinexpo Asia organizers, global buyers and distributors to assess market trends. The agency will also hold talks with Business France, the French government’s export promotion arm, to share policy strategies and explore cooperation models that could bolster Korea’s export framework.
“It is meaningful to showcase our award-winning ‘Dohan Cheongmyungju’ on the same stage as world-class spirits,” said a representative from the Han Young-seok Fermentation Research Institute. “We will do our best to share the value of our unique fermentation culture with global consumers.”
Moving forward, the National Tax Service said it plans to leverage the K-SUUL Awards continuously to identify promising small and mid-sized producers and bankroll their domestic and international market development.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
