Gunpo City relationship leads to new business, ag commitments
The Grant County delegation poses with the chairman of the Gunpo City Council as well as four other councilmen.
Hay, potatoes, fruit subjects of interest in South Korea
More benefits to Grant County's sisterhood relationship with South Korean city Gunpo City have been announced.
As was previously reported, Grant County Economic Development Council executive director Terry Brewer recently returned from Gunpo City, as part of a Grant County delegation.
He told the Columbia Basin Herald that there were many discussions with people related to such agricultural commodities as hay and potatoes in hopes to see increased exporting.
The EDC announced Wednesday that the Ansung Dairy Cooperative will now be importing monthly shipments of 50 containers of hay products.
"It's the largest dairy cooperative in South Korea," explained Caroline Spira, GCEDC manager of communications and research.
"It was confirmed to us that 50 containers of alfalfa hay and total quality rations feed would be shipped from Grant County to Korea every month," Brewer said in a press release. "That would amount to some 24,000 tons of hay and related products a year. This is a significant increase to the order made last fall, and a very positive development in this very young relationship."
While Ansung Dairy Cooperative is not located in Gunpo City, Spira said that Brewer and Grant County commissioner Tim Snead made a side trip to the cooperative during a Grant County delegation trip made last April and representatives visited hay facilities in Moses Lake last summer.
"(They) liked what they saw, put in an order, it came through well and now they're increasing the order," Spira said.
Due to combined efforts made by Gov. Locke's trade mission, the Washington State Potato Commission and the GCEDC, shipments of fresh potatoes for chips have also increased significantly between Grant County and South Korea.
"That's been ongoing work that was on for a long time," Spira said. "Last year, when a delegation went to Korea they had some meetings where they talked about potatoes."
Karen Bonaudi, assistant executive director of the Potato Commission, said that they had been working on Korean interests for a couple years.
"(WSPC director of international trade) Shannen Bornsen has made a couple trips to Korea, and also hosted Koreans when they had visited here, explicitly for meeting with chip growers," Bonaudi said. "We weren't getting chip potatoes in there at all. (The efforts) opened a new market."
According to the GCEDC, conversations were held between the Grant County delegation and one of the largest snack food companies in Gunpo City regarding their interest in fruits grown in the region, such as apples and cherries.
"It's all preliminary," Spira said. "They have an interest in what we have here, and are considering coming to check things out, which is how it works. But it's good news."
"The GCEDC made the commitment to explore every opportunity to establish relationships which can lead to trade or business development," Brewer said. "This latest visit has afforded greater visibility and ability to inform business leaders in our sister city of the advantages of Grant County. The results achieved so far and the relationships created to date are worth cultivating in the long-term."
Spira said that the GCEDC is planning on inviting a Gunpo City delegation to come to Grant County in the fall.
"Gunpo City sees this as an annual visit," she said.
The delegation also attended a manufacturing trade show held especially to expand the sisterhood relationships. Of the 1,100 manufacturers in Gunpo City, 80 attended, providing information and demonstrations of their products to the delegates.
The Grant County delegation consisted of Brewer, Snead, Sen. Joyce Mulliken, County Assessor Laure Grammer, county clerk Ken Kunes, Moses Lake city councilman Lee Blackwell, Big Bend Community College president Bill Bonaudi, Windermere/K-2 Realty businessman Ralph Kincaid and Terry Dorsing of Dorsing Farms.