SEOUL- Some 297 Korean exports have been enjoying world renowned brand status in the global marketplace.

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) said June 6 that those 297 items, with some 369 different brands amongst them, have seen flourishing international sales mainly thanks to brand image.

Out of the 369 brands, 330 were from Korea’s four major business groups - Samsung (152), LG (110), Hyundai (37) and Daewoo (31).

This means that small and medium companies were unable to see brisk overseas sales due mainly to a lack of brand images, despite the excellent quality of their products, said KOTRA.

The KOTRA revealed these and other facts based on a survey via its overseas branches in 76 countries.

The products with outstanding brands mainly covered electrical home appliances, like television sets, air-conditioners, microwave ovens and refrigerators, accounting for 42 percent of the total.

Information and communications products like mobile phones, monitors, semiconductors and CD-ROM drives numbered 92, sharing 31 percent.

Automobile-related goods numbered 48, accounting for 16 percent.

In China, LG’s air-conditioners, microwave ovens, and daily necessities like Lotte’s chewing gum and Nonshim’s instant noodles were among the widely know items.

In the United States, flat screen monitors from Samsung and LG were chosen while in Japan monitors as well as hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel goods from POSCO were selected.

In Hong Kong, ginseng, and mobile phones from LG were cited while in Germany Samsung microwave ovens were particularly well known.

With the goal of helping small and medium companies (SMCs) that have high technology but lack a brand image, KOTRA has decided to carry out various steps which feature selling SMC products with the brands of major chaebol.

To explore that possibility, KOTRA has decided to set up a task force.

For instance, "A department store in Chile recently asked for a shipment of web cameras with the Samsung logo, which prodded us to export a medium-sized firm’s product with a Samsung name," said a KOTRA official.

"It is a kind of ‘win-win’ strategy under which the larger companies receive a commission while the smaller companies can export products at high prices," said the official.