Steelmakers in talks with shipbuilders over prices

South Korean steelmakers have launched talks with shipbuilders over prices of thick steel plates, which are mainly used for shipbuilding, people familiar with the matter said Saturday. Posco, the country's largest steelmaker, said it is pushing to raise prices of thick steel plates -- a key material that accounts for about one-fifth of shipbuilding costs -- by up to 15 percent. The move is meant to reflect increased costs of iron ore, one of the main raw materials used in steel production. A h

IndustryJan. 30, 2021

Seoul stocks tipped to remain under selling pressure next week

South Korean stocks are likely to come under selling pressure next week following this week's choppy trading, as market volatility is expected to remain high over massive foreign selling and profit-taking. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,976.21 points Friday, down 5.24 percent from a week ago. The index crashed below the 3,000-point level for the first time since surpassing the psychologically important threshold on Jan. 7. The fall was largely attributed to for

MarketJan. 30, 2021

Short sellers under siege everywhere have it really bad in Korea

Retail investors hell-bent on watching stocks go up have made life miserable for short sellers around the world. In South Korea, the government is piling on too. Lawmakers who oversee the country’s $2 trillion stock market are discussing plans to extend one of the world’s longest bans on short selling, amid pressure from mom-and-pop punters who drive more than two thirds of daily trading. Calls to make the 10-month ban permanent are mounting. More than 203,000 people have signed a

MarketJan. 30, 2021

Stock markets decline for four straight sessions on foreign sellout

South Korea’s stock markets fell for four consecutive sessions on Friday, driven by foreign investors‘ sellout. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index began the day in positive territory but fell below 3,000 points for the first time since Jan. 6 when it recorded 2,976.21 points. The index plunged 3.03 percent, or 92.84 points, to 2,976.21 points on Friday, marking the largest daily decline since Aug. 20, 2020. Foreign and institutional investors sold a net of 1.43 tri

MarketJan. 29, 2021

Mirae Asset Daewoo logs over W1tr in operating profit

South Korean brokerage firm Mirae Asset Daewoo said Friday its consolidated operating profit exceeded 1 trillion won last year, making it the first Korean financial company to reach the milestone Its consolidated group operating profit surged by 52 percent to 1,104 trillion won ($988 million) in 2020, while its profit before tax increased 26 percent to 1.12 trillion won. It posted 818.3 billion won in net profit, a 23 percent on-year increase. The company said it ushered in an era of over 1

MarketJan. 29, 2021

KNOC to unload North Sea assets: reports

State-run Korea National Oil Corp. is seeking to sell off its stakes in oil and gas fields in the British, Dutch and Danish North Sea, according to foreign media reports. The KNOC, whose debt ratio stood at 3,415.5 percent in 2019, is attempting to dispose of parts or all of its North Sea subsidiary Dana Petroleum to secure liquidity. Dana Petroleum is a British oil company acquired 100 percent by the KNOC. Dana Petroleum in January launched a process to sell a 10 percent stake in the Gre

IndustryJan. 29, 2021

Doosan’s W1tr coal-fired power plants in Vietnam connected to grid

Doosan Heavy Industries’ two coal-fired plants worth 1 trillion won ($896.7 million) in Vietnam have been connected to the country’s electricity grid, according to foreign media reports. In 2015, Doosan won Song Hau 1 project that consists of two 600-megawatt thermal power plants from the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group. The plant No. 1 was synchronized in November, and plant No. 2 was synchronized Wednesday. When a power plant is synchronized, its means the plant is successfully est

IndustryJan. 29, 2021

SK Innovation bleeds W2.5tr in operating losses as revenue shrinks 30%

SK Innovation’s revenue fell to 34.16 trillion won ($34.16 billion) last year, a 30.7 percent plunge from 49.87 trillion won on-year, as the pandemic dealt a massive blow to its petrochemical business. According to the South Korean battery-to-petrochemical giant’s regulatory filing on Friday, the company posted an operating loss worth 2.5 trillion won, swinging to red from an operating profit 1.2 trillion won in 2019. The revenue of SK Innovation’ petrochemical business,

IndustryJan. 29, 2021

SsangYong Motor Q4 loss widens amid pandemic

SsangYong Motor Co., the South Korean unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said Friday its fourth-quarter net losses widened from a year earlier due to weak sales amid the coronavirus pandemic. For the three months ended December, net losses deepened to 173.6 billion won ($155 million) from 155.9 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. "Weaker sales and tougher competition with rivals weighed on the quarterly results as the COVID-19 pandemic p

IndustryJan. 29, 2021

LG International’s operating profit jumps 18.5% on-year in 2020

LG International, the trading arm of LG Group, saw its operating profit climb 18.5 percent on-year in 2020, on the back of the improved profitability in logistics, the company said Friday in a regulatory filing. Data showed that the company’s yearly sales came to 11.28 trillion won ($10.06 billion), up 7.1 percent from a year earlier, and its operating profit reached 159.8 billion won, up 18.5 percent during the same period. The operating profit marked a visible expansion during the

IndustryJan. 29, 2021

Kospi dips by 3% to below 3,000 on foreign dumping

The South Korean benchmark stock index plunged below the 3,000-point threshold Friday on massive foreign dumping, largely generated by valuation concerns over local stocks and a liquidity squeeze in China. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 92.84 points, or 3.03 percent, to close at 2,976.21 points, registering the largest daily loss since Aug. 20 last year. Trading volume was high at about 972 million shares worth some 23.8

MarketJan. 29, 2021

Startup incubator D.camp generates ripple effect worth W6.7tr, 32,000 jobs

D.Camp, a non-profit foundation established by 19 banks to foster startups, said on Thursday it has created a trickle-down effect worth 6.7 trillion won ($6.01 billion) in the past three years. The foundation spent a total of 188.7 billion won to support the startup ecosystem for three years from 2018, with a total investment of 2.43 trillion won from the private sector, said Park Nam-gyoo, a business administration professor at Seoul National University at an online press conference. Park,

MarketJan. 29, 2021

S. Korea's 5G users near 12 million in 2020: data

The number of 5G subscribers in South Korea approached nearly 12 million last year since the launch of the latest mobile network in April 2019, data showed Friday. South Korea's 5G users stood at 11.85 million as of end-December last year, up over 900,000 from the previous month, according to the data from the Ministry of Science and ICT. The figure accounted for 16.8 percent of the total 70.5 million mobile network subscriptions in the country. The number of 5G users picked up in the second

TechnologyJan. 29, 2021

Eximbank funds $160m for hospital, R&D center in Uzbekistan

The Export-Import Bank of Korea said Friday it had agreed to extend a $160 million loan as part of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund to Uzbekistan to build a hospital and a research and development center there. The deal was a result of a bilateral online summit held between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held Thursday, Eximbank said. Of the total loan, $120 million would be funneled to the construction of a general hospital in Tashkent, whi

MarketJan. 29, 2021

S. Korea to develop AI translator in support for OTT industry

South Korea's ICT ministry said Friday it will develop an artificial intelligence-powered translator for local video streaming services as part of its broader support plan for the fast-growing over-the-top (OTT) media industry. The Ministry of Science and ICT said it is pursuing the development of the AI-based translation technology as the country's OTT market experiences rapid growth and local OTT services begin eyeing overseas expansion with their Korean-language content. South Korea's OTT u

TechnologyJan. 29, 2021

Banks' lending rates inch up in December

South Korean banks' lending rates edged up in December last year amid rising market rates, central bank data showed Friday. The average interest rate charged on new bank loans came to 2.74 percent in December, up 0.03 percentage point from the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK cut the key interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent in May last year after delivering an emergency rate cut of half a percentage point in March to cushion the impact

EconomyJan. 29, 2021

S. Korea to extend R&D support for bio convergence tech, medical devices

South Korea's science ministry said Friday it will extend research and development (R&D) support for the bio-health sector, bolstering efforts to develop regenerative medicine and homegrown medical devices. Under the Ministry of Science and ICT's bio-health strategy, the country will also expand R&D investment to converge cutting-edge technology, such as artificial intelligence, with new medicine development to boost efficiency. The ministry will also expand support for the development

IndustryJan. 29, 2021

Auto exports dip 12% in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korea's exports of autos declined 12.1 percent on-year last year due to the fallout of the pandemic, data showed Friday. The country's outbound shipments of cars came to $34.7 billion last year, compared with $39 billion the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. In 2020, the country's imports of autos rose 8.8 percent on-year to $12 billion, the data showed. The drop in auto exports was mainly attributable to a fall in demand over the COVID-19 pande

MobilityJan. 29, 2021

Galaxy S21 launched globally, set to sell in 130 countries by next month

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday its new flagship smartphone line has been officially launched globally as the South Korean tech giant hopes its latest handsets can drive the company's mobile business amid fierce challenges from its rivals. Sales of the Galaxy S21 series have started in 60 countries, including South Korea, the United States, Britain and India, according to Samsung. The new mobile devices will be available in 130 countries by the end of February. The Galaxy S21 series, which

TechnologyJan. 29, 2021

SK hynix’s 2020 operating profit jumps 84% on-year

SK hynix, the world’s second-biggest memory provider, reported Friday an 84 percent on-year growth in its annual operating profit in 2020. The chipmaker posted 31.9 trillion won ($28.6 billion) in revenue and 5.01 trillion won in operating profit in 2020, up 18 percent and 85 percent from a year earlier, respectively. Its net income of 2020 stood at 4.76 trillion won, while the operating margin was 16 percent, and net margin was 15 percent. “Due to the global pandemic and the in

TechnologyJan. 29, 2021