Korean Furniture Makers Going Global

Korean builders are receiving more orders from abroad, and this has helped Korean furniture makers raise exports.

Korean construction firms building apartment complexes or studio apartments are installing furniture made by Korean manufacturers.

In Kazakhstan last year, for example, ENEX supplied kitchen furniture to 581 apartment units built by Dong Il Construction. Overall ENEX provided kitchen furniture for 1,240 apartment units abroad last year, including 440 in Vancouver, Canada and 168 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.


The company will supply kitchen furniture to another Dong Il apartment complex in Kazakhstan and newly built apartments in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

When going overseas with Korean builders, furniture makers can utilize the logistics network of Korean construction firms. That means they can reduce logistics costs and require no separate overseas operation network.

â—‹ Opening up the global market

Hanssem runs branches in the United States, China and Japan, and has manufacturing facilities in the United States and China.

The company has a plant in Plainfield, New Jersey, and stores in Boston and Manhattan. When its shops receive orders from consumers or dealers, Hanssem delivers furniture from the Plainfield factory. By doing so, it now pays a lot less in logistics costs than if it exported furniture from Korea.

Hanssemë­© U.S. operations saw sales jump from 14 billion won in 2004 to 22.4 billion won last year.

Borneo International Furniture is a prime example of a Korean company setting up a strong operational network worldwide.

The furniture maker is working with 25 dealers from about 20 nations. It has established several overseas operational networks since first going overseas in the early 1980s.

The companyë­© overseas revenue reached 20 billion won, or 10.5 percent of its combined sales of 191 billion won last year. Despite going into court receivership in 1992, Borneo has utilized existing overseas operational networks and turned itself into Koreaë­© biggest furniture exporter last year.

ENEX has opened its own shops in Hawaii to tap the U.S. market, in addition to running shops in Uzbekistan, Russia, Guam, and Saipan.

â—‹ Specialized items for export

Chair maker Sidiz spun off from office furniture maker Fursys in March last year. Sidiz participated in Office Exhibition 2018 in Dubai and NeoCon Worldë­© Trade Fair 2017, North Americaë­© biggest office furniture exhibition, last year.

It is rare for a startup furniture maker to attend global shows in succession.

Sidiz marketing chief So Jung-hee said, ë°ªidiz packs chairs in small packages to export our products. Chairs are for the most part the only pieces of furniture exportable to the global market without the burden of logistics costs.

The company enjoyed exports of about one billion won last year, and plans to increase that amount by more than ten times this year.