Korean agricultural machinery maker to expand US production

South Korea’s major farm machinery maker is set to invest $20 million in manufacturing facilities in the US state of Georgia, to expand its business in the world’s second-largest agricultural producer.

TYM Corp. on Friday unveiled a plan to expand its production base in Rome, Georgia, to raise its annual tractor output in North America to 50,000 units from the current 30,000. The company is poised to begin the factory design work this month, with the goal of completion in June 2023.

TYM will build a 142,500-square-foot factory equipped with the latest manufacturing technology on its 900,000-square-foot factory grounds. It is set to establish assembly lines for tractor production in North America by expanding its current semi knock-down (SKD) assembly lines into complete knock-down (CKD) facilities. The expansion plan also includes the establishment of the TYM Technology Institute (TTI) for service education.

The investment plan came as US President Joe Biden visited Seoul.

“It was very meaningful for the opportunity to contribute to the cooperation between the US and Korea through this major facility investment in Georgia, in line with President Biden's visit to Korea,” said the head of TYM’s overseas business division in a statement.

TO JOIN THE TOP THREE

TYM is currently among the top five tractor producers in North America with more than a 10% share of the region’s under-100 horsepower tractor manufacturing market.

The company aims to become one of the top three brands with the investment, which will expand its market share amid growing demand for small tractors.

The COVID-19 era led to an increase in the number of the so-called hobby farmers who live in the suburbs and cultivate crops over the weekend. American consumers also did more of their yardwork and gardening while working from home during the pandemic.

Demand for small tractors is expected to grow further on the recent rise in labor costs and labor shortage in the US. Lawn care services, often provided by immigrants, cost an average of $520 a month. But the expenses are likely to fall to as low as $150 per month if a customer leases a small tractor and maintains the lawn on their own, depending on the model of the tractor.

TYM’s sales in the US nearly doubled to 435.4 billion won ($342 million) last year from 235.6 billion won in 2019 before COVID-19 hit the country. The company forecast sales there to rise 26.3% to 550 billion in 2022. That should help TYM’s total sales top 1 trillion won this year for the first time in history, up more than 40% to 1.2 trillion won from 841.5 billion won last year.

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