South Korea ships 'Yongari Chicken' to Vietnam in first processed poultry export in a decade

South Korea has shipped its first processed chicken products — including the popular "Yongari Chicken" brand and chicken nuggets — to Vietnam, opening a market that took nearly a decade of quarantine and sanitary negotiations to unlock. The breakthrough came after talks that began in 2017 were finally concluded at an April Korea-Vietnam summit. South Korea plans to start with just over 2 metric tons of initial shipments this year, scaling up to about 70 tons by next year. However, only 2 of the 15 domestic processing facilities approved for export are currently registered to ship to Vietnam, making additional registrations and local distribution a key challenge for expanding sales.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety held a ceremony Wednesday at Harim's headquarters in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, to mark the first shipment of Korean processed chicken products to Vietnam. Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryeong attended along with representatives from Harim, Iksan city, the broiler industry association, the meat processing industry association, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency and the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT).

The shipment came six months after quarantine and sanitary negotiations on heat-treated poultry concluded at the Korea-Vietnam summit in April. Harim completed its registration as a Vietnam-approved export facility the same month, signed an export contract in June and finished local product registration in Vietnam in September before loading the first shipment Wednesday.

Han Un-seop, director general of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's imported food safety policy bureau, said at the ceremony that the process had taken exactly a decade. "It took exactly 10 years to get to this shipment. We started in 2017," he said.

The main products Harim is exporting to Vietnam are chicken nuggets, Yongari Chicken and whole-breast chicken nuggets. The company plans to begin with about 2 tons of initial shipments this year and export a total of roughly 70 tons — worth about 700 million won ($527,000) — by next year.

Lee Yong-hyeon, a Harim executive, said the company is broadening its export lineup beyond samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) to a wider range of processed chicken products. The share of Harim's total exports made up by products other than samgyetang has risen from 6.2 percent in 2023 to 9.4 percent in 2024 and 12.1 percent last year.

Harim also has an existing business foothold in Vietnam through its affiliates. Singreen Vina, established in 2017, operates a local sales network for Korean-bred laying hens. As of this month, its revenue stood at about 24 billion won, up 14.2 percent from last year. Another affiliate, Sunjin Vina, runs four feed production bases in Vietnam, manufacturing and selling feed for pigs, poultry and aquaculture.

Harim said it is leveraging this local business experience to enter the Vietnamese market with processed chicken products. However, it was not confirmed whether the existing affiliates' networks would be directly used to distribute the newly exported products.

Vietnam is one of Southeast Asia's major food consumption markets, with a population of more than 100 million. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the country's meat market grew from $7.7 billion in 2020 to $11 billion in 2024, an average annual growth rate of 9.6 percent.

Exports of South Korean processed chicken products have also been rising. Through August this year, export value reached 24.8 billion won, up 39.5 percent from the same period last year. The product mix is diversifying beyond samgyetang to include nuggets and dakgangjeong (sweet and spicy fried chicken).

Expanding into the Vietnamese market in earnest will first require more processing facilities to obtain export registration. Of the 15 domestic facilities currently approved for export, only two are cleared to ship to Vietnam.

Ko Han-ju, chairman of the Korea Meat Industry Association, called for additional registrations at the ceremony Wednesday, noting that only 2 of the 15 facilities are currently registered. Minister Song said the government would work to expand registrations. Director Han also said his agency would cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to register the remaining 13 facilities.

Marketing efforts to build a local consumer base will also be stepped up. Jeon Gi-chan, aT's director of export food affairs, said five South Korean processed chicken exporters are set to participate in an export trade fair in Vietnam in early November. The aT plans to broaden export channels by connecting companies with local buyers and providing marketing support.

Minister Song said the significance of the shipment lay in opening a new market rather than in the volume of the initial consignment. "It is just over 2 tons, but the meaning contained in this shipment is very significant," she said. "There is great meaning in the fact that the public and private sectors worked together to achieve this result."

She also cited the target of 70 tons for next year and said the export volume needs to grow further, calling on the government and industry to work together to develop products tailored to local demand, register additional facilities and secure distribution networks.

The government also plans to accelerate quarantine negotiations for exporting Hanwoo beef and heat-treated pork to Vietnam. "If we can quickly wrap up quarantine negotiations for Hanwoo and heat-treated pork as well, we expect the export market for processed meat products to expand even further," Minister Song said.