Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

Jingdong Group (JD.com, Chairman: Liu Qiangdong), China’s largest e-commerce platform, has established a dedicated purchasing subsidiary in Korea and is stepping up imports of Korean products.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources (MOTIR, Minister JK Kim) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA, CEO and President Kang Kyung Sung) jointly hosted the JD Kick-Off Summit 2026 with JD.com at KOTRA headquarters in Seoul on August 12, 2026. The event featured a supplier briefing on direct purchasing and business consultations. 

Korea’s consumer goods exports to China peaked at approximately USD 9.3 billion in 2021 before declining throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first half of this year, however, exports rose 8.7 percent year on year, supported by cooperation with local distribution networks and broader access to inland markets.

To sustain this growth, the government is focusing on direct purchasing as an export model. Under this model, an overseas platform imports and distributes products locally without an intermediary. For exporters, it offers higher margins and more reliable payment. For overseas retailers, it reduces the risk of counterfeit products and unauthorized distribution.

Yang Qikun, Vice Chairman of JD.com Group, visited Korea following the subsidiary’s establishment. “As the Korean Wave continues worldwide, demand for K-beauty products and Korean food is expected to grow,” he said. “We will continue to expand our direct purchases of Korean products.”

Around 200 Korean consumer goods companies attended the event, where they learned about JD.com’s business model and held one-on-one business consultations with JD.com buyers. A signing ceremony was also held for an export contract worth USD 1.5 million. At the ceremony, a representative of Company A said the contract enabled the company to export to China without having to manage logistics or payment collection, adding that it would focus on producing quality products to further expand its customer base in China.

Kang Gam-chan, Deputy Minister for International Trade and Investment at MOTIR, noted that the two recent Korea-China summits had helped create favorable conditions for Korean consumer goods to enter China’s domestic market. “We will actively support Korean companies to facilitate their entry into the Chinese market through major platforms such as JD.com,” he said.