HAURATON is a leading draining industry company from Germany, which manufactures and sells water drainage solutions.

Established in 1956, HAURATON has become one of the world leaders in the development and manufacture of surface drainage systems. Many major infrastructure projects count on HAURATON’s reliable products, know-how and people.

In July 2017, HAURATON was among the attendants of the Environment & Water Technologies business mission in Korea.

Thanks to the personalised coaching given by the EU Gateway | Business Avenues team, HAURATON and the other participant companies were able to grasp the complexities of the environment and water landscape in Korea and what it takes to do business there.

Prior to the mission, companies were helped define their market strategies and were featured in the EU Gateway | Business Avenues team’s promotional campaigns run in Korea.

During the mission week, participants had the opportunity to exhibit their latest innovations and meet prospective distributors, clients and business partners.

In Korea, HAURATON’s declared purpose was to gather information on the market of surface drainage systems and to speak with potential business partners to expand HAURATON’s international growth strategy set by the management.

In 2017 the main purpose of our participation was to learn more about the Korean market and to find a distributor having the same spirit and vision as HAURATON. – Adrian Bach, Technical Director Asia, HAURATON

Michael Unger, Export Director Asia at HAURATON, had pre-arranged meetings with both end users and dealership partners.

HAURATON met high-level local companies that were highly relevant to its field of business.

One of the prospects made during the mission turned into a long-term partnership. HAURATON signed an agreement for the distribution of the company’s products on the Korean market with a local company called BLTEC.

It was important for HAURATON to work with an experienced team, in order to make sure the market entry was smooth.

The fair turned out to be good and we were able to establish a partnership with BLTEC. (…) It takes time to establish the brand and new technology in Korea, but it looks promising. – Adrian Bach, Technical Director Asia, HAURATON

The partnership with BLTEC is still underway, with the new partner actively promoting HAURATON ever since.

BLTEC is attending exhibitions national wide to build brand awareness in the local construction industry. Furthermore, BLTEC has been hiring sales people to promote HAURATON’s products to clients, which turned out to be very successful and sales of steady growth. The collaboration with BLTEC is going smoothly and the partner will further engage with authorities and DIY stores in the near future.

The overall rainwater drainage market size in Korea is estimated at over EUR 25 million a year with about EUR 9 million per year in spendings on surface drainage systems.

Korea has more than 60 local manufactures of surface drainage systems.

However, HAURATON with its pre-fabricated composite drainage channels and rainwater filtration technology is a real need for the Korean market.

This means that HAURATON and BLTEC should be able to reach 10% market share within 3 years.

Still in its early stages, the partnership has already proved a success for HAURATON and the business mission was the trigger for it all.

Looking for similar potential business partnerships and new customers in Asia?

Check out the EU Gateway | Business Avenues business mission calendar for 2019 and apply!