Many people on social media have described South Korea as one of the countries that one should see at least once in a lifetime. I arrived in Korea after a long flight and was welcomed by the darkness of the evening and a relatively cold weather. Leaving aside the urban legends I have heard about Korea, I have been researching it with the aim of understanding it. It is a peninsula country with a population of about 52 million, belonging to the same language family as us, where words are formed by adding and subtracting. Its surface area is about 100 thousand km2. Less than one-seventh of Turkey. It is a little bigger than the Aegean region. Imagine trying to fit 60% of the population in 15% of our country’s area.
The hotel is far from the airport. I’m negotiating with the taxi. He wants 80,000 Won. I tell him my friend went for 45 yesterday. We can’t get along. We don’t get along in every sense because he doesn’t speak English. Later I learn that the rate of speaking English is around 1%. But on the other hand, the cabbie friend is helpful. He brings another taxi driver. He accepted. His company is Kakao Taxi. Later I learn that Kakao is cheaper everywhere.
Tired and in the dark, we travel for about an hour to reach the hotel and the fairgrounds. The fair is in Ilsan. The neighboring city is Seoul. It is like passing from İzmir airport to Manisa. High buildings, skyscrapers, residences attract my attention in the region. It should be a region where planned development is ensured by spreading the center outwards. Everywhere is calm, everywhere is organized. Vehicles in traffic, pedestrians on the roads, everyone moves in a certain order. It is a more European city than Europe.
Most of the representatives of the companies participating in the fair stay in the same hotel. The neighborhood is quiet and the streets are safe. There is a shopping center nearby. There are also various restaurants such as Korean, Chinese, Italian cuisine.
I can’t sleep at night due to jetlag or something, so I surf the internet a little bit about Korea. South Korea is a country where the average life expectancy is 82 years old with a per capita income of more than 35 thousand dollars and the birth rate is decreasing every year, so having children is encouraged. They have reached serious export figures especially in the fields of automotive, technology and beauty/cosmetics. Recently, with their reinterpretation of Hollywood cinema, Korean cinema and K-pop, which they present with a new packaging by adding their own perspective to pop culture, have also become a cultural export item. It is an educated country. The literacy rate is almost 100%. In order not to lag behind the age, they organize various training projects for the population over 45 years old to transition to digital life and use technology.
On the first day of the fair, I enter the area with curiosity and excitement. It is a mixed fair, the Building Fair. It gives the impression that Bauhaus and Mediamarkt have joined forces in a big area. There are a lot of crowded visitors. Korean people are curious. As a people who have already overcome the problems of shelter and minimum subsistence, they have already stepped into the next stage: Concern for beauty, aesthetics and comfort. I am on my way to the Natural Stone section, where 10 companies from our country are participating, organized by the Aegean Exporters’ Association as a Turkish partner. We are maintaining certain standards that we have achieved in the fair organization. Stands, products, the friendliness of our companies, everything is in its place. We start the fair with an excited curiosity and expectations. We always talk about our long-standing friendship with South Korea. But we are like two strangers to each other. Neither they know us nor we know them. It is like we are on a first date. Aegean Exporters Association officials are working very hard to ensure that there is no disruption in the fair and that it is a successful organization. We have a short chat with Subin Lee, the Fair Official, between the busyness. They are also excited about the natural stone section. They want to develop and improve. He mentions that they will have a stand at Marbleİzmir this year. We talk about how it would be good for them to organize Korean companies to visit the fair as much as possible. I don’t know how possible it will be this year, but I get the impression that we will have Korean visitors at Marbleİzmir in the coming years. They care about their business. He tells me that they have invited potential natural stone buyers from the Korean domestic market to the fair and that they have arranged interpreters to avoid language problems
There are crowds of people throughout the fair. I sense an air of disappointment in most of our exhibitors. Most of those who have visited the stands so far seem to be unaware of natural stone. There are even those who think it is ceramic/porcelain. Isn’t there a conventional natural stone customer in Korea? There are question marks swirling in the minds. However, we have seen the use of natural stone in hotels, shopping malls, the new Incheon airport, various building claddings and many other places since we arrived. Import figures tell us another story. Korea imports over 800 million dollars of natural stone. Okay, the majority of this is what we can call igneous stones such as granite, basalt and andesite. But there are also marble group (marble, beige, travertine, onyx, etc.) imports exceeding 165 million dollars. The pleasant majority are from China. In the Covid and post-Covid period, marble group imports started to increase every year. It is not impossible that it will reach 350-400 million dollars in the coming years. Chinese exports to Korea have been declining slightly every year. In the last few years, they dropped from 85 million dollars to 64. In the same period, Egypt increased from 6 million to 36. And us? We have stayed in place. Always at the level of 6-7 million dollars. When I see this, I say that being here and participating in this fair is the right move for the Turkish natural stone sector. There are challenges, but there is also potential.
I am trying to understand the ancient Korean construction tradition. The old historical buildings have a flamboyance based on wood on a stone base. They love color. Small in area, big in population. There has been a rapid transition from horizontal architecture to a very vertical architecture with the fast-growing economy and prosperity. In that speed, genetic Korean taste and color seems to have been a bit neglected. Gradually, the hours of aesthetics and taste have come. South Korea is open to new breakthroughs that somehow blend its own architectural culture with the technological age, and it has the opportunity to do so. This country, which has achieved the ability to take, adapt and re-present the West in many fields, can achieve this very easily in architecture and construction.
There seems to have been some smiles at the fair. After the initial bewilderment of the average visitor, a wave of hope was brought to the stands by visitors who knew a little bit about the stone business. It is only the first fair and we are strangers to each other.
It is possible to see the considerable use of natural stone in many new projects such as Lotte World Tower, Incheon Airport, Cheonggyecheon Stream restoration project, COEX Exhibition and Fair Area, The Shilla, The Conrad, The Grand Hayatt hotels in Seoul. We can observe that Western architecture offices have also started to make signature projects. Galleria Mall built in Gwanggyo is one of them. Since it is a good example, we also wrote a detailed news in this issue.
Even though South Korean people stick to their traditions and culture, they are also open to change. We can see an increase in the consumption of dairy products such as cheese and foods such as olive oil, which are not in the Far East culture. In recent years, there has also been a considerable growth in luxury consumption expenditure. For example, luxury consumption expenditure increased by 24% in 2022. In 2021, it will increase by 20%. It feels like a country of tranquility, a country of peace and tranquility that has isolated itself from the turmoil of the world. Economic growth and mobility have also made the country an international center of attraction. It also receives foreign migration. Especially in the center of Seoul, it is possible to see people from many nations. This brings with it a cosmopolitan structure and cultural expansion. With its developing cities and changing tastes, South Korea gives the impression of a good potential market
It is possible to find traces of luxury, taste and technology in the fair as it is a mixed fair. Wooden products are very popular. It seems possible for a furniture company that integrates wood and marble to reach serious sales. I think solutions that can integrate natural stone and technology will also make a difference. Companies that can produce solutions by getting rid of the classical fair and marketing molds and understanding Koreans will be advantageous in this market.
As we observe in every country, our embassy is keen to support the companies. Our Ambassador also demonstrates this determination by visiting the fair on the second day and visiting all the stands.
What’s left over from the fair is the feeling that there will be work here. But on the other hand, the questioning part of our brain does not hesitate to comment. It won’t be easy, we need to work hard!
+90 532 585 51 95
+90 532 585 51 95