Samsung Electronics tops $110b in annual exports

Samsung Electronics was recognized with a $110 billion Tower of Export at the 58th Trade Day in South Korea, in an unprecedented move among companies of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed Monday. This comes as the Korean technology bellwether earned $113.2 billion from July 2020 to June this year from exports of semiconductor chips, consumer electronic goods and mobile handsets. This accounted for a fifth of the total exports of Kor

EconomyDec. 6, 2021

[Exclusive] Samsung SDI batteries to power electric water taxis in San Francisco

A major US ride-sharing company will operate electric water taxis powered by Samsung SDI batteries near the Golden Gate Bridge next year. According to industry sources on Monday, the San Francisco-based startup will operate three electric water taxis -- each loaded with 220 kilowatt-hours of Samsung SDI batteries -- in the Golden Gate Strait starting in the second quarter of next year. The price of the electric water taxi is around $280,000 and it can carry one driver and six passengers. Th

IndustryDec. 6, 2021

[From the Scene] Ulsan, city of highest CO2 emissions in Korea bets future on underground hydrogen pipelines

ULSAN -- A city the size of Hong Kong churns out 5,400 cars every day, builds 12 percent of the world’s ships and runs Asia’s third-largest petrochemicals complex. It’s no surprise that Ulsan has the highest carbon emissions per person in South Korea. The port city, sitting on the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula, aims to turn its weakness into a strength by collecting massive waste hydrogen generated at petrochemical facilities and using it as a fuel to power the c

IndustryDec. 6, 2021

Why hydrogen stations in Korea have only 1 charger

ULSAN -- Through a 1.8-kilometer underground pipeline, hydrogen compressed by pressure 20 times greater than normal atmosphere flows to a remote hydrogen filling station in Ulsan, a port city located on the southeast coast of the Korean Peninsula. Completed in December last year, the facility is the pride of Ulsan, as it stands as South Korea’s first hydrogen fueling station directly connected to an underground pipeline, bringing waste hydrogen from nearby petrochemical facilities and p

IndustryDec. 6, 2021

S. Korea, ADB to hold startup road show this week

South Korea and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) plan to co-host a road show this week with an aim to facilitate Korean startups' foray into the Asia-Pacific region and find ways to promote sustainable growth of developing nations, the finance ministry said Monday. The ADB Ventures Korean Roadshow will be held Friday both via YouTube streaming and at Dream Plus in Seoul's southern district of Gangnam, according to the finance and SME ministries. At the event, the Korean government plans to pro

EconomyDec. 6, 2021

Kyobo Life demands punishment of Deloitte Anjin accountants

Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea's leading life insurers, said Monday that it has requested a reinvestigation into and punishment of some accountants of Deloitte Anjin accused of conspiring to inflate the prices of a put option that one of its strategic investors exercised years earlier. In October 2018, Affinity Equity Partners exercised a put option on 6 million shares in Kyobo Life Insurance at a strike price of 409,000 won ($345) per share after the insurer failed to deliver on its

IndustryDec. 6, 2021

[Graphic News] No. of Koreans with assets over W1b climbs 10%

　Amid liquidity-driven booms in the real estate and stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people with assets of more than 1 billion won ($838,000) increased by over 10 percent last year from a year earlier, a report showed.  　The number of Koreans with financial assets worth over 1 billion won stood at 390,000 last year, taking up 0.76 percent of the total population, according to the Korea Wealth Report 2021 released by KB Financial Group Research Institute. 　The lat

BusinessDec. 6, 2021

S. Korea, ASEAN agree to quicken customs procedure for their FTA

South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to address sticky issues in customs procedures for better implementation of their free trade agreement (FTA), the finance ministry said Monday. Under the agreement, South Korean firms will be able to receive tariff benefits if they submit a copy of certificates of origin when they export goods to the 10 member states of ASEAN, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Korean exporters have had difficulties a

EconomyDec. 6, 2021

Seoul stocks open lower on omicron concerns

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street that stemmed from worries about the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 30.26 points, or 1.02 percent, to 2,938.07 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came off to a weak start, led by foreign and institutional sell-offs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.17 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite declined 1.92 percent amid r

MarketDec. 6, 2021

Small merchants' sentiment dips for Dec. amid soaring coronavirus cases

South Korean small merchants' business confidence worsened for December in the wake of a surge in coronavirus infections, a poll showed Monday. The Small Enterprise and Market Service said its business survey index (BSI) for small merchants came to 85.4 for this month, down 2.2 points from the previous month. It marks the first time in four months that the small merchants' BSI has gone down from the previous month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists. The survey of 2,400

EconomyDec. 6, 2021

Growth of insurance firms' lending slows in Q3

South Korean insurance companies saw their lending grow at a slower pace in the third quarter from three months earlier due to tougher rules on household loans, data showed Monday. Insurers' outstanding loans totaled 262.4 trillion won ($222 billion) as of the end of September, up 2.1 trillion won from the prior quarter, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Yet the figure was down from the on-quarter increase of 5.2 trillion won in the previous quarter. From a ye

EconomyDec. 6, 2021

SK, Swedish private equity chiefs discuss future industries

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won met with Conni Jonsson, founder and chairperson of Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners, and discussed expanding ties on future industries, such as green energy and health care, officials said Sunday. In the meeting held Friday in Seoul, Chey told Jonsson about the conglomerate’s efforts in reducing carbon emissions, improving transparency in governance and creating both economic and social values, they said. “South Korea is a leader in hydrogen

IndustryDec. 5, 2021

Food, Beverages price grow 5% in Q3, marking 5th-steepest among OECD

Prices of groceries and nonalcoholic beverages in Korea rose 5 percent on-year in the July-September period, marking the fifth-largest increase among OECD nations, data showed Sunday. According to data from Statistics Korea and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, prices of food and beverages grew even higher last month on-year at 6.1 percent on the back of strong price increases of agricultural and processed products. The quarterly price growth of food and beverages w

ConsumerDec. 5, 2021

High earners report 19% asset increase in pandemic-hit 2021

High-income households in South Korea -- those who earn between 70 million won ($59,000) and 120 million won before tax annually -- saw their assets increase by 19 percent, or 150 million won on average, from last year, a study showed Sunday. According to the study conducted by Woori Financial Research Institute, which is run by Woori Financial Group, its 4,000 clients classified as “mass affluent” saw their assets rise to 917 million won on average.  The size of debt on avera

EconomyDec. 5, 2021

Rider shortage driving up cost of your order

Food delivery apps saw their users decline after South Korea entered the first phase of the “living with COVID-19” scheme last month. But amid growing competition and a push by delivery apps for “one order per trip” to promise a speedy service, a delivery rider shortage is likely behind the rising cost of your order, industry sources said. According to IGAWorks’ mobile index, Android phone users who used delivery apps Baemin and Yogiyo dropped by 8.9 and 7.5 perc

ConsumerDec. 5, 2021

[ESG Talk] Implant basic principles of ESG, competitiveness in 2022

Companies are facing a stricter and more standardized ESG business environment. Recently, the Korean state-run bodies have released the K-ESG guidelines, or guidelines for domestic players to abide by. As 2021 ends, reputable ESG rating agencies are publishing ESG scores in Korea. One of the most famous rankers globally is MSCI, and its ESG ratings recently added the new climate change section as part of their rating systems. The newly included ”Implied Temperature Rise“ element trac

MarketDec. 5, 2021

Daesang bags 2 prizes at Korea Advertising Awards

An advertisement campaign from Daesang took home two honors at the Korea Advertising Awards this year, according to the food company on Sunday. Founded in 1994, the Korea Advertising Awards are considered the most prestigious awards in the industry here. Some 2,000 advertisements are submitted for consideration each year, the organizers said. An advertisement series of Daesang’s “Anjuya” products -- ready-made side dishes to be paired with alcohol -- received two nominatio

ConsumerDec. 5, 2021

Firms delay return to office, meal kits for year-end dinners amid omicron spread

A rapidly spreading fear over the omicron variant of the coronavirus has forced big corporations in South Korea to adopt stricter in-office quarantine guidelines again and restrict overseas business trips, casting a shadow over their business plans for next year.  An increase in confirmed omicron variant infections has pushed the South Korean government to tighten its eased quarantine rules under their ‘living with COVID-19’ scheme, which kicked off Nov. 1. Starting Monday, the

IndustryDec. 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] S. Korea to increase number of highway EV chargers to over 1,000

South Korea will increase the number of electric vehicle chargers at highway service areas nationwide to over 1,000 by the end of 2022, the transport ministry said Sunday. Currently, there are 435 EV chargers at the country's highway rest stops. The government plans to increase the number to 730 by the end of this month and then add more than 300 chargers next year, it said in a press statement. The move is meant to help meet rising demand for EVs and the charging infrastructure, as the gover

MobilityDec. 5, 2021

FSC puts top priority on bringing household debt growth to pre-pandemic levels

The head of South Korea's top financial regulator has said he will make continued efforts to bring household debt growth down to pre-pandemic levels, as fast increasing debt has emerged as a major risk that could threaten the country's economy. Koh Seung-beom, chief of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), still noted he will use some "flexibility" in managing the debt issue by taking into consideration economic, financial market situations and minimizing hurdles for people in actu

EconomyDec. 5, 2021