[THE INVESTOR] Traditional Korean chicken soup is set to enter China as the first shipments to the mainland recently cleared customs, industry officials said July 26.

Samgyetang is a traditional chicken soup made with a whole young chicken stuffed with ginseng, sticky rice and garlic. It is widely recognized in the country as an energy-boosting meal during the summer months.

The first shipments of 20 tons of precooked and frozen soup by five Korean companies have arrived at Weihei Port in eastern Shandong province, getting ready for sales for the first time since the two nations agreed on new quarantine rules last year.

Harim, South Korea’s largest poultry processing firm, and four companies are set to sell the frozen soup in major supermarket chains in big Chinese cities and online shopping malls, according to company officials.

While only five poultry firms have received approval from the Beijing government, major food companies are also seeking ways to export samgyetang using their distribution channels in China.

CJ Cheiljedang, a food unit of the CJ Group, and Daesang Corporation, a major food processing company, are also pushing to export samgyetang, with products offered by the preregistered companies.

South Korea last year exported $9.5 million worth of samgyetang to the United States, Taiwan and Japan, and aims to export US$3 million worth of the Korean food to China this year.

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