Lighting Up Asia
Kumho Electric announced on July 1 that it has signed a MOU with a Kazakhstani light company for the “Almaty City Street Lighting Project” on June 30.
Under the agreement as part of the LED lighting project in Kazakhstan, street lamps and security lights will be supplied first to expressways, light rail subways, cities, and parks. Then, general lighting, including FPL luminaires and flat lighting, will be supplied next as the second phase. Kumho Electric will support product development, production, supply, and technology to the Kazakhstani company, and the Kazakhstani company will mass produce and sell the products in the market.
The Kazakhstani LED lighting market is expected to grow rapidly from the current US$33.6 million (37.65 billion won) to US$72 million (80.68 billion won) within the next five years. Currently, there are only six lamp manufactures in the country with a production capacity of 5 to 6 million units. Most of them depend on imports from China.
Meanwhile, Kumho Electric is achieving good results in the North American market, which the company has made efforts to make inroads into for a long time. The company has started supplying LED tubes to large stores in the Americas and auto plants in the U.S. including Kumho Tire. Also, it now has local manufacturing systems in the Middle East and North Africa. Kumho Electric plans to aggressively target overseas markets as well as the domestic market.