Hoya Homtech, First Export of Korean-style 'Hoya Ondol' to Japan

Russia, the United States, and now Japan expand export routes

Hoya Homtech employees are taking a commemorative photo in front of the Hoya Ondol container being exported to Japan on the 17th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Minjin Kim] Hoya Home Tech's Hoya Ondol has opened export routes by successfully entering the Japanese market following Russia and the United States. On the 17th, Hoya Home Tech announced that it had exported 2,000 sets of Hoya Ondol made from carbon composite materials, along with heating beds and samples, to Japan.

Hoya Ondol is a floor heating panel installed in Japanese homes. The heating bed is a set product including a boiler, designed for easy assembly and disassembly at home by anyone. To enter the Japanese market, Hoya Home Tech exhibited Hoya Ondol at the Korea Product Exhibition held in Tokyo in June, organized by the Korea International Trade Association. At the exhibition, local Japanese buyers showed great interest in Korea's ondol culture and Hoya Ondol, and discussions are underway with several companies wishing to become regional distributors regarding distribution.

Hoya Group established a local corporation in Osaka, where many Korean residents live, to directly sell products in the Japanese market, and is preparing offline sales through distributors as well as online shopping malls such as Makuake and Amazon. Lee Jeong-taek, head of Hoya Home Tech, said, "In Japan, floor heating is gaining interest mainly among the younger generation, and houses with floor heating are popular with tenants even if the rent is high." He added, "Hoya Ondol has many advantages such as strength exceeding that of cement floors, thermal conductivity, heat storage, light weight, and thickness, making it an emerging alternative material to traditional wet heating methods. We will further target the local market ahead of winter."

Hoya Home Tech, with its first and second factories in Gunsan, Jeonbuk, developed the eco-friendly composite new material heating product and dry-type 'Hoya Ondol' in collaboration with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). The company announced that it received 'Grade 1 for heavy weight' and 'Grade 3 for light weight' in the 'floor impact sound performance test' conducted at the LH Corporation standard test building in June, enabling it to supply to multi-family housing with fewer than 30 households.