Merck to acquire Mecaro’s chemical biz for 110m euros

German electronics technology firm Merck announced Wednesday that it has signed a deal to acquire the semiconductor-grade industrial gas and chemical operation of Korea-based listed company Mecaro for 110 million euros ($111.9 million). The transaction will involve business assets dedicated to chemical precursors used in thin film deposition for semiconductors, as well as some 100 employees. Mecaro is expected to split off the chemical business for the deal. The cash deal is expected to be clo

IndustryAug. 17, 2022

Food prices to rise further: report

SEJONG -- Spiraling import prices of grain are expected to bring about further price hikes in local processed food products and food offered at restaurants, with a state-run agency predicting a continuous climb of grain prices in the third quarter of the year. In a recent report, the Korea Rural Economic Institute forecasted that grain import prices would climb 16 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter. A peak in the international prices of grains such as wheat, corn and

EconomyAug. 17, 2022

65% of Korean firms expect exports to drop in H2

A majority of South Korean exporters expect exports to drop in the second half of this year, compared to the first six months, due to declining demand in China and the US, and rising commodity prices, a recent survey by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed Wednesday. According to the poll conducted in the last week of July, 65 percent of 300 local exporters said exports will fall in the June-December period, while 23 percent said they won’t change much, and the remaining 12.3

IndustryAug. 17, 2022

Regulator launches task force in push for crypto framework

A joint task force launched by the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday kicked off its first monthly meeting on setting up a framework for digital assets like bitcoin, a week after the top financial regulator said it would work to remove regulatory uncertainty facing South Korea’s crypto industry. Introducing a legal framework for cryptocurrencies is part of the larger deregulation initiative the FSC has been pursuing since President Yoon Suk-yeol, who had pledged to make that happe

MarketAug. 17, 2022

Seoul shares snap 3-day winning streak ahead of Fed minutes release

Seoul shares snapped their three-day winning streak Wednesday as investors await the latest minutes of the Federal Reserve that will give them an idea of its future rate policy to combat high inflation. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 17.05 points, or 0.67 percent, to close at 2,516.47 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 410 million shares worth some 7.04 trillion won ($5.4 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers

MarketAug. 17, 2022

US bill puts the brakes on Hyundai, Kia’s EV ambitions

Hyundai Motor Group’s ambitious green push has hit a snag in the all-important US market as President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a new bill that has immediately scrapped subsidies for electric vehicles made outside America.  Under the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act, up to $7,500 of tax credits will be offered to “Made in US” EVs to help lift the portion of eco-friendly vehicles to 50 percent of all car sales in the local market by 2030. Hyundai Motor and its small

MobilityAug. 17, 2022

Samsung fund invests $15m in US biotech Senda

Samsung Life Science Fund has invested $15 million in US biotech Senda Biosciences in efforts to foster core technology of next-generation biopharmaceuticals, Samsung Biologics said Wednesday. Senda Biosciences is a therapeutics platform company specialized in programming to the cell by using the code from natural nanoparticles. The US biotech’s platform includes a messenger RNA engine and the first-ever atlas of nature-derived programmable systems at the molecular level and across all k

MarketAug. 17, 2022

Ex-Kakao CEOs highest paid executives in H1

Yeo Min-soo and Joh Su-yong, who stepped down from top seats of mobile internet giant Kakao Corp. earlier this year, were highest paid executives in South Korea in the first half of this year, filings showed Wednesday. Joh was disclosed to have been compensated 36.15 billion won ($27.59 million), while Yeo was paid 33.22 billion won, by the company dedicated to mobile messengers, gaming and entertainment, during the January-June period in 2022, according to filings submitted with the Financial

IndustryAug. 17, 2022

S. Korea calls for global cooperation against crimes in fast-growing digital asset market

A top financial regulator said Wednesday that it is necessary to step up global cooperation in effectively responding to crimes involving digital assets as transactions take place across borders with their impact on traditional financial markets fast expanding. Kim So-young, vice chair of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), highlighted the need in the inauguration meeting of the recently launched private-government task force on digital assets, adding that more efforts should be made to pro

EconomyAug. 17, 2022

Korea Line H1 net hits new high

Korea Line Corp., South Korea's No. 2 bulk carrier, said Wednesday its earnings reached a new all-time high in the first half of the year amid high freight rates. Net income came to 144.2 billion won ($110 million) in the January-June period, the shipping company said. The on-year growth rate was not disclosed. Sales spiked nearly 58 percent on-year to 778.9 billion won, with its operating income shooting up 65 percent to 142.3 billion won. Bolstered by bumper first-half earnings, Korea Lin

IndustryAug. 17, 2022

S. Korea's contraband trade jumps 60% in H1

SEJONG -- South Korea's contraband trade shot up 60 percent in the first half of the year on a spike in tariff evasion and country-of-origin violations, the customs agency said Wednesday. The Korea Customs Service (KCS) said it detected and confiscated about 3 trillion won (US$2.3 billion) worth of illegal goods and unlawful transactions in the January-June period, compared with 1.9 trillion won a year earlier. Yet the number of contraband cases sank 28 percent on-year to 849 in the six-mon

EconomyAug. 17, 2022

Seoul shares open higher ahead of Fed minutes

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday as investors await the latest Federal Reserve's minutes that will give them an idea of its future rate policy to combat inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6.71 points, or 0.26 percent, to trade at 2,540.23 points as of 9:15 a.m. The main index got a boost amid market speculation that inflation pressure is peaking, making a global recession less likely, analysts said. The Fed minutes will be available Wednesday (US tim

MarketAug. 17, 2022

Korea develops core equipment for NASA’s space telescope

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute has developed core equipment required for the ground testing of NASA’s future space observatory project, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday. The state-run KASI has put together a cryogenic vacuum chamber for NASA’s project -- Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer, also known as SPHEREx. If successful, the project will mark the world’s first observation of the entir

TechnologyAug. 17, 2022

Lotte chairman highest paid among chaebol leaders in H1

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin was the highest paid among leaders of top conglomerates during the first half of the year, data showed Tuesday. Shin topped the list by receiving 10.28 billion won ($7.84 million) from six Lotte affiliates during the January-June period, up more than 2 billion won from a year ago, securities filings showed. He was followed by LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo with 7.1 billion won, including 4.85 billion won in incentives. Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-yeon earned m

IndustryAug. 16, 2022

DSME's net losses narrow in H1 on new orders

South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Tuesday its net losses narrowed in the first half from a year earlier, thanks to increased orders. DSME, the world's No. 4 shipbuilder by order backlog, said in a regulatory filing that its net losses for the six months ending in June narrowed to 667.9 billion won ($594.5 million) from 1.24 trillion won a year ago. The company said it has received 6.67 billion won worth of orders so far this year, about 75 percent of

MobilityAug. 16, 2022

FSS chief vows probe into suspicious short selling, wire transfers

The Financial Supervisory Service will look into financial institutions that handled an unusually large volume of short selling when the local markets were jumpy, the watchdog’s chief said Tuesday, as retail investors step up calls for greater oversight over the practice they say leaves them outgunned by institutional investors. Individual investors have long complained that the bearish market practice that profits from a drop in share prices is not as rewarding as it should be as regulat

MarketAug. 16, 2022

Kurly’s IPO plan to be decided next week

The long-awaited market debut of Kurly, operator of South Korean e-commerce platform Market Kurly, is expected to be decided soon as the nation’s bourse operator is scheduled to hold a final review session next week, according to industry sources on Tuesday. If the company gets a green light from the Korea Exchange during the session, it is ready to go public. Following a book building process, its share price will be decided. The issue is investor sentiment amid a lukewarm initial publ

ConsumerAug. 16, 2022

SK chairman discusses global health commitments with Gates

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won discussed shared commitments to global health with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Foundation, SK Bioscience said Wednesday. According to officials, SK Discovery Executive Vice Chairman Chey Chang-won and SK Bioscience CEO Ahn Jae-yong also attended the meeting in Yeouido, western Seoul. The SK leaders and Gates talked about how they can cooperate to improve global health. SK Bioscience said the company and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hav

IndustryAug. 16, 2022

6 out of 10 Korean businesses urge Seoul, Tokyo to reset ties

More than half the companies surveyed by the Korea Enterprises Federation, one of the five major business lobby groups here, said Korea and Japan should settle their disputes and improve economic ties, especially in trade, the data showed Tuesday. Conducted from July 27 to Aug. 2, the survey polled 207 companies employing at least 30 workers and 57 percent of them backed the idea, saying efforts to take advantage of new trade deals like the RCEP and IPEF should take place once the two countries

IndustryAug. 16, 2022

Samsung SDI sets up first R&D center in US

Samsung SDI said Tuesday it had set up its first research and development center in the US in an effort to secure technological competitiveness in the burgeoning market for electric vehicles. The Boston center, called SDI R&D America, will focus on developing new battery-related technologies in cooperation with local universities and startups that have been actively working on lithium-ion battery technology and other next-generation developments. The new US center follows the establishme

IndustryAug. 16, 2022