Lonza, Toyota, JD.com among 530 buyers at 'Boom-Up Korea' export fair

South Korea's largest comprehensive export consultation fair, "2026 Boom-Up Korea," opened Wednesday at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, for a two-day run.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA are working to connect 530 global buyers with 1,400 domestic companies, targeting roughly $200 million in export contracts.

Among the prominent buyers attending are Switzerland's Lonza, the world's top biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization by sales; Tomen Device, a semiconductor and electronic components trading firm affiliated with Japan's Toyota Group; China's leading e-commerce company JD.com; CBC Defense, a Brazilian ammunition manufacturer with a century of history; and Mitsubishi Electric, one of Japan's foremost integrated electrical manufacturers. The buyers are scheduled to hold one-on-one export consultations and on-site inspections with the 1,400 participating domestic firms.

Over the two days, the ministry and KOTRA aim to facilitate roughly 4,500 export consultations and conclude 100 MOUs, with a goal of finalizing approximately $200 million in export contracts.

Boom-Up Korea, which launched in 2015, has established itself as the country's flagship export support event connecting overseas buyers with Korean companies. This year's edition operates under the banner of "exports for all," with an emphasis on export diversification, regional cooperation and the cultivation of new growth industries.

In line with the government's five-pole, three-special regional growth engine initiative, more than 50 percent of participating companies are firms based outside the capital region, giving competitive regional businesses a direct channel to global buyers and real business opportunities.

To develop K-bio, K-consumer goods and other new growth industries as the next generation of export drivers, key global buyers in biotech, cosmetics and food have been invited to broaden their contact with domestic companies.

The event also extends beyond the main venue. Alongside the KINTEX fair, organizers plan to link up with 11 major industrial exhibitions across the country, run online consultation sessions, and hold traveling export consultation events in Daegu, North Chungcheong Province and other regions, ensuring companies nationwide can meet overseas buyers regardless of location.

This year's fair is being held jointly with M.AX CON, a forum for manufacturing AI business and technology exchange, to generate additional synergies.

On the opening day, M.AX CON will bring together Raffaello D'Andrea, a professor at ETH Zurich, and Park Min-woo, head of Hyundai Motor and Kia's Advanced Vehicle Platform division and chief executive of 42dot, along with experts from IBM, Qualcomm, Posco and other domestic and international organizations. Discussions will focus on how to integrate AI into manufacturing environments, covering AI factories, industrial robots and physical AI, and autonomous manufacturing.

Kang Gam-chan, director general for trade and investment at the ministry, said the government would continue expanding the base for "exports for all" so that more industries and regional companies can enter global markets as the historic milestone of $1 trillion in annual exports comes into sight. "We hope this event will be an opportunity for our companies to discover new markets and trading partners, and a chance for overseas buyers to encounter competitive Korean companies and products," he added.