The Oriental medicinal products produced in Daegu, dubbed the “mecca of Oriental medicine,” received positive reviews from Asian markets, such as China and Japan, as well as the Russian and Ukrainian markets. The products were developed through a collaboration of companies that received business support from the government. The products are expected to create a new Korean wave, following hallyu.
One particular company has advanced into a new market and made remarkable progress.
Canavena, a manufacturer of bedding goods, was seeking to get out of the textile business, which is already a red ocean. In 2010, it encountered the Daegu Technopark Oriental Medicine Industry Support Center’s training program and decided to change its focus to Oriental medicinal goods. It established an institute with the support center later that year.
And through constant collaborations with the center, the company has managed to produce a line of Oriental herbal products, including an aromatic and deodorants.
Among these products, D&TALK, a foam toothpaste, bleaches and prevents gum disease and cavities with a simple gargle instead of brushing. It received a warm welcome from the public and became the face of Canavena.
It was also acknowledged for its safety by the U.S. FDA and KFDA.
And the company is now seeing the fruit of it labor.
The company has signed an MOU with Hankou Co., Ltd. in Ningbo City, a sister city to Daegu, for the export of D&TALK. It has also been putting great effort into penetrating the Chinese market by participating in various expos and establishing a Beijing branch.
The delegates from Hankou Co., Ltd. visited Daegu in July to discuss the import of D&TALK, take a tour and consult with some support center representatives. Canavena signed an MOU with the Hankou Co., Ltd. to export 3 million dollars worth of products by 2013.
The company has also signed off on the export of 15,000 dollars worth of products with Bairun Co., Ltd. of Wuxi and is now in talks for additional purchases.
Soriso, another company that has moved into the Daegu TP Oriental Medicine Industry Support Center, signed off to export “GUMDANSU,” an Oriental herbal ingredients-based cosmetic, to Hong Kong buyers, at a food expo in Hong Kong, in August. DongWooDang, an affiliate of Omni Herb, a Daegu-based enterprise, has also managed to sell mandarin-bark tea for $250,000 to the Chungting Japan Company. The tea was developed in collaboration with the support center.
Some companies have turned to diversifying their portfolios by focusing on overseas markets.
Herbearth, which manufactures an Oriental ingredient-based shampoo, is already exporting its products to Russia, Ukraine, Japan and others and has also sold $120,000 worth of “Oshampoo and Olotion” to the Russian beauty care association. The products were co-developed by Herbearth and the support center. The company is also about to export the over-the-counter drug ‘Ored ginseng” to Ukraine, upon request.
“The recent slew of Oriental herbal product exports by local businessmen was realized thanks to the collaboration of local businesses, schools, institutes and government struggling to nurture Oriental herbal products. We will conduct tests on the effects of the products and consolidate their scientific basis to help more local enterprises make them,” said An Hee-duk, head of the support center.
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