In January 2017, a matching representative of tradeKorea received bidding information from a Bangladeshi buyer whom he had contacted before. The buyer primarily participates in bidding for specially designed vehicles and military equipment in Bangladesh, and this particular bid was for sewer dredge vehicles among specialty cleaning vehicles. A sewer dredge vehicle is a specialty vehicle designed for cleaning purposes that pierces clogs of sewers by using a water hose and sucks by-products generated into a loading tank, and then transports and discharges it to a specified location.
In return, the matching representative of tradeKorea began looking for suitable domestic companies and introduced three specialty vehicle manufacturers including Kasem to the buyer. One of the companies announced that they would not participate in the bidding since it was deemed difficult to source right-hand-drive vehicles from vehicle manufacturers owing to the fact that cars in Bangladesh have steering wheels on the right side. Thus, two manufacturers including Kasem ultimately participated in the bidding process. Due to the deadline considering the nature of the bidding, the tradeKorea matching representative quickly contacted the export representatives to have them deliver the necessary materials on company introduction and official quotations to the buyer.
Founded in 2005, Kasem is located in the Free Trade Complex in Gimje, Jeollabuk-do and is an expert in manufacturing specialty vehicles in the field of environmentally-friendly vehicles. Though they perform most of their exports as indirect exports, they are a hidden that diligently fulfils even orders of small quantities and specializes in manufacturing specialty vehicles tailored to specifications required by buyers.
Mr. Yoo Seong-ju, CEO of Kasem, was hoping for an opportunity to get into direct exports since they had only experienced indirect exports through domestic trading companies. Even in the middle of the bidding process, the matching representative of tradeKorea was continuously in touch with the buyer to promote domestic companies. CEO Yoo Seong-ju sent an invitation directly to the buyer to invite them to visit their plant in Gimje, Jeollabuk-do, and showed them around the company and the manufacturing facilities, through which they gained a great amount of trust from the buyer.
They competed with a Chinese manufacturer until the end and Kasem, with durable products and great after-sales services, ultimately won the order of one drain dredge vehicle. Given the characteristics of Bangladesh’s low income and small market size, the transaction was made in a rather small quantity but it still carries a significant meaning as it is the company’s first direct export. Bangladesh typically conducts L/C transactions and, though it was its first-ever L/C transaction, everything went smoothly with the help of the matching representative and Trade SOS.
To now enter Russia and other CIS countries, Kasem continues its talks with buyers that it came to know through the foreign business matching service of tradeKorea, and is actively carrying out overseas marketing based on the results of the export accomplished through tradeKorea.
