Bitgreen National Industrial Complex [Herald Business DB]
Bitgreen National Industrial Complex [Herald Business DB]

Companies in Gwangju's optical fiber, secondary battery and health biotech sectors have called on the government for help, citing heavy costs and administrative burdens from country-specific certification and regulatory requirements, rising logistics expenses and difficulty finding overseas buyers. The government said it would strengthen tailored support through export vouchers, policy financing and overseas buyer-matching services.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance's Export Plus Support Team held an "Export Plus Forum" at the Gwangju Advanced Science National Industrial Complex on Tuesday, bringing together relevant agencies and local exporters.

The forum was organized to hear firsthand about the export challenges facing companies in the region's advanced industries — optical fiber and optical components, secondary battery equipment and health biotech — and to discuss ways to address them.

Participating agencies included KOTRA, the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE), the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), the Overseas Certification Support Team and the Korea Industrial Complex Corporation.

Seven companies took part: NH Networks, Woori-ro, Sunil Telecom, Empinix, Korea Advanced Materials, Dongjin Enterprise and Kubotech.

The companies said the cost and workload of navigating different certification and regulatory requirements across export markets placed a significant burden on their operations. They also flagged rising export logistics costs, a lack of company-specific consulting on export financing and guarantees, and difficulty breaking into overseas markets and securing new clients.

In response, the export support agencies introduced a range of programs: end-to-end mentoring for obtaining overseas certifications, export and logistics vouchers, and policy financing programs for small and medium-sized exporting enterprises. The agencies also agreed to provide buyer-matching services connecting companies with overseas buyers suited to their export stage and target markets.

The government said it expects optical fiber and optical components to grow in strategic importance as data traffic surges on the back of AI industry expansion. Secondary battery equipment and healthcare were also identified as high-value-added sectors with strong potential to drive regional growth.

"The government and export support agencies will work in close coordination to swiftly resolve the difficulties companies face on the export front," said Bae Jeong-hun, deputy head of the Export Plus Support Team. "We will continuously strengthen tailored support so that local companies with strong technological capabilities can actively advance into global markets."


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