Hyundai L&C is accelerating its push into the North American solid surface market. After bringing its 'Hanex plant' in Texas, USA online in the first half of this year, the company has now agreed to supply 'Hanex' to a major U.S. building-materials distributor. 'Hanex' is an MMA (methyl methacrylate)-based solid surface material, used mainly for kitchen furniture and countertops, as well as an architectural finishing material in commercial facilities such as hospitals, schools, and museums.
Hyundai L&C, a comprehensive building-materials company under the Hyundai Department Store Group, announced that it will supply its Hanex solid surface to 'Lowe's,' the second-largest building-materials distributor in the U.S., beginning in December. Lowe's is a building-materials distribution chain operating some 2,400 stores worldwide, including around 2,000 stores in North America.
The Hanex products supplied under this agreement will initially be sold at about 130 Lowe's stores located in New York and California, among other areas. Hyundai L&C plans to first export products manufactured at its Sejong plant in Korea, and to additionally supply products made at its Hanex plant in Texas going forward. Through this, the company aims to supply Hanex to some 2,000 Lowe's stores across North America by 2021. It has also set a cumulative Hanex sales target of 50 billion won over the next three years.
A Hyundai L&C official explained, "North America is the largest market, accounting for 70% of the global solid surface market (valued at approximately 2.15 trillion won as of 2018)," adding, "This supply agreement is the result of the efforts Hyundai L&C has made to break into the North American solid surface market."
In May of this year, Hyundai L&C established and began operating its 'Hanex plant' in Texas, USA, to expand its production infrastructure. Spanning 33,057 square meters (about 10,000 pyeong), the plant will be able to produce 300,000 sheets of Hanex per year once full-scale production begins in the first half of next year. This is equivalent to 40% of the volume of Hanex produced domestically.
In particular, to strengthen the competitiveness of its Hanex business in the first half of the year, the company increased its dedicated solid surface sales staff at its U.S. subsidiary by about 20%. Building on this, its strategy is to expand supply to local distribution channels such as Lowe's, while also actively pursuing additional orders for countertops, tabletops, and the like from major local franchises.
A Hyundai L&C official said, "As the push into the North American solid surface market has begun to gain momentum, sales at our U.S. and Canadian subsidiaries in North America grew by more than 30% through this past September compared with the same period last year," adding, "We plan to raise our North American sales, currently at around 160 billion won, to about 250 billion won within three years."