Tapping Middle East meteorological market

Engineers from Jinyang Industrial inspect an Automatic Weather Station in Dukha, Qatar, in this July 2013 file photo. / Courtesy of Jinyang Industrial

'Qatar to invest $200 million by 2022 to modernize weather forecasting system'

Ahmed Abdulla Mohamed, director of Qatar Meteorology Department

Han Young-ho, president of Jinyang Industrial

By Park Si-soo

One of the crucial tasks for Qatar, host of the FIFA World Cup in 2022, is modernizing its weather forecasting system to assure the World Cup is a success.

In its latest effort to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting, Qatar’s state weather agency has decided to purchase a set of high-end weather forecasting devices worth $6 million from a Korean company.

This is the first deal of its kind signed between Korea and the Middle East nation.

Under the deal, Jinyang Industrial, the supplier based in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, will install 53 devices and a communication network connecting them across Qatar by the end of the year. The country plans to share information gathered by the devices with its eight neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Jinyang officials said the firm was selected as the exclusive supplier of the “early warning system” after fierce competition with strong rivals from the United States, France and Finland. The firm’s products were recognized for its “errorless” operations all year round in extreme weather, they added.

Qatar is expected to invest $200 million to modernize its weather forecasting system ahead of the World Cup games.

On top of that, Qatar’s weather agency signed an agreement with the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) in July, through which four KMA officials have been staying in the arid country since September teaching Qatar officials about the essential techniques for weather forecasting.

“This is one of the most important projects we have this year in Qatar,” Ahmed Abdulla Mohamed, director of the Qatar Meteorology Department, told The Korea Times at the JW Marriott Hotel in southern Seoul on Feb. 24.

“Dozens of devices will be distributed on the main roads and there will be some on the sea. All of these will be connected through a radio wave network or satellite to gather information and deliver it to the headquarters ... so it’s a big project actually.”

He visited Korea last week to inspect Jinyang’s production system and meet KMA officials. Ahmed expressed his gratitude for the KMA’s cooperation in the project, saying, “We know how advanced the Korean meteorological department is ... very advanced, very well known.”

‘Be more active’

The director said there are many other projects in Qatar that will soon start seeking corporate partners globally, calling on Korean companies to seek business opportunities in his country.

“This is just the beginning. There are several projects coming in the future, so we’re trying to be ready for those,” he said. “There is a big market (in Qatar). But it has long been dominated by European and American companies.

“In Asia, there are many companies making good products like Jinyang. But there has been miscommunication, so we don’t see many Asian companies working in this (field). So we are now trying to give an example to other (Middle East) countries that there is good quality of products and services available at better prices in Asia.”

Ahmed said Jinyang’s winning of the project proved that Korean companies never fall behind major weather forecasting device-makers in Europe and the U.S. in terms of quality of products and services. But one shortcoming Korean companies need to address is their passive and reluctant attitude toward the Middle East market, he said.

“To sell your product, you should become more active,” Ahmed noted. “An idea that is still in the mind of many people (in Qatar) is that ‘only the European equipment is good.’ It’s because they have never tried or experienced Asian companies.”

He said things will change with Jinyang’s deal.

“I think this is a good chance for Seoul and for us,” he said. “Maybe in the future Qatar can host an exhibition of manufacturers producing meteorological equipment and we hope that such an event will give chances to other companies.”

Big bet on Middle East, India

Han Young-ho, president of Jinyang, said the demand for meteorological devices is growing rapidly in the Middle East and India. In addition, a new market — though it’s still small — is opening up in Southeast Asia and Latin America, he said.

“Qatar is trying to make itself as a hub of weather information in the Middle East. So the country is making investment very actively,” Han said. “India is another country that is eager to improve its weather forecasting capability.”

Jinyang made its first business relationship with India in 2008 by selling 1,350 units of an Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) System to India’s state weather agency. The vast country of 1.2 billion people has a plan to install 30,000 ARGs to cover its entire territory, Han said.

“That’s a huge deal we should not miss out,” he said. “The Indian government works slowly, so it will take quite a long time for it to complete the project. But it will be done someday, which means we should remain attentive to what’s happening in India.”

Asked about the recipe for success in overseas business, the Jinyang CEO said understanding the culture of the customer’s country is much more important than anything else.

“Every country has its own distinguishing culture. To make your business successful, it’s crucial to fully understand and respect it,” he said. “For example, I visited Vietnam a couple of years ago to meet the country’s chief of state weather forecasting agency. But it was so difficult to meet him. Then I found that dog meat is a popular food there. So I tried to build a relationship with him using dog meat and it worked.” Jinyang sold 240 ARGs to the Vietnamese weather agency in 2012.

Asked about how he earned favor of Ahmed, Han simply answered, “I got close to him in a way I do to make friends in Korea. I think there are cultural similarities between Korea and the Middle East in many ways.”