Alibaba.com, China's largest online marketplace, said Monday it will open an exclusive website for South Korean companies next month, reflecting a growing demand from B2B buyers for Korean-made products. Korean products have been available at the Chinese platform, but there has been no such site that showcases only the products of Korean sellers. The exclusive website, dubbed South Korea Pavilion, will be launched on Aug. 8 and aims to help more than 5,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand their overseas sales, Alibaba.com said in a statement. "We expect the growth of global B2B market will exceed that of global B2C market in coming years (helped by widespread e-commerce platforms)," Alibaba.com Vice President Andrew Zheng said in a press conference held in Seoul. The global B2B market is expected to grow to US$21.6 trillion in 2027 from $8 trillion in 2022, while the global business-to-consumer (B2C) market is forecast to reach $5.7 trillion from $2.4 trillion during the same period, he s aid. In the past four years, more than 2,550 Korean SMEs have advanced to global B2B markets through Alibaba.com, not the exclusive site, and they have achieved a combined 130 billion won ($94 million) worth of export deals in 2023 alone, the statement said. Alibaba.com said it has selected Korea as the first batch of countries in Asia to launch the dedicated website due to the popularity of Korean products in the B2B markets. In the 12 months through June, sales of Korean auto parts jumped more than three times, those of instant noodle "ramyeon" soared 82 percent, skin care product sales rose 80 percent and red ginseng sales were up 69 percent from a year earlier, the company said. Through Alibaba.com's exclusive Korean website and the membership trial program, Alibaba.com hopes to enhance the competitiveness of Korean SMEs and expand their overseas sales channels, Marco Yang, head of Alibaba.com Korea, said. The membership trial program will allow Korean SMEs to sell their products through the exclusiv e site at an annual fee of $199, the statement said. Source: Yonhap News Agency