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AgTech

Korean tractors plough more US soil

Daedong expands US market share on growing demand for small tractors and lawnmowers

By Sep 16, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)

2 Min read

Daedong’s dealers in North America
Daedong’s dealers in North America

If you google tractors or lawnmowers in the US, you may see products of Kioti by Daedong-USA, Inc., a subsidiary of South Korea’s No. 1 agricultural machinery maker Daedong Corp., at the top of the page. You may see websites for Kioti devices even if you search for products from its US and Japanese competitors as Daedong is conducting Internet search marketing to expose its products by attaching advertisements to more than 20 related words.

“We have been engaged in more marketing activities since the COVID-19,” said Daedong-USA president and CEO Peter Dong-Kyun Kim. “Orders have been delayed for more than two months as tractor supply could not keep up with demand."

NO. 3 SMALL TRACTOR MAKER

Daedong is quickly growing in North America, selling more than 10,000 tractors in the US and Canada in the first half of this year. The company expects to sell more than 20,000 units by the end of this year, more than a triple in the recent five years. The company’s share in the US small tractor market grew to 20%, raising its rank to the No. 3 from the sixth or seventh-largest.

Its aggressive marketing helped such growth. Competitors took a conservative stance by suspending tractor production as the COVID-19 started hitting the globe in March 2020 amid concerns over a shrinking market for agricultural machinery. But Daedong decided to maintain output, while adjusting schedules for shipments to the US.

“We judged that we didn’t need to stop plant operations, given Daedong’s stable cash flows and grain price trends,” Kim said.

US tractor sales, which had been sluggish until the first week of April, started rising from the second week as more consumers bought small tractors and lawn mowers, while working from home amid the COVID-19.

So, Daedong accelerated shipments to the US.

“Koreans often clean up their houses when they work from home, but Americans usually mow the lawn in the yard and tend a vegetable garden in the suburbs,” Kim said. “A US vegetable garden is usually larger than 9,000 square meters, equivalent to two soccer fields, at least.”

'WE DIG DIRT'

Daedong advertised at Rogers Center, the stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays, a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, where the Korean Monster Hyun-Jin Ryu is playing as a starting pitcher. It also conducted marketing activities in six sports leagues including the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football league.

It recently started a TV commercial with a theme of "We Dig Dirt."

“Americans have a strong belief in pioneering the land by putting dirt on their hands,” Kim said. “After the new TV ad, awareness of Daedong soared.”

The company is also launching new products for the US market.

“We will focus more on the North American market by developing more than a dozen of devices to be to attached tractors,” Kim said.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
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