Income of farming, fishing households up in 2014

The average income of households engaged in farming and fishing rose in 2014 on higher market prices for goods, a government report showed Friday.The income of farming households averaged 34.95 million won ($32,400) last year, up 1.2 percent from the year before, the report by Statistics Korea said. Earnings for fisherman stood at 41.01 million won, or a gain of 6.3 percent.Farmers earned less from selling their crops, but made up for the loss thanks to the higher prices of livestock, which adva

April 24, 2015

Home prices in S. Korea keep rising in April: data

Housing prices in South Korea seem to be on a sustained recovery path, data showed Friday, reflecting growing demand for home purchases amid eased lending circumstances.Seoul apartment prices gained 0.55 percent on-month in April, accelerating from a 0.45 percent increase in March, according to the data compiled by Kookmin Bank, the flagship unit of the country's second-largest banking group, KB Financial.Since the end of last year, apartment prices in Seoul have jumped 1.31 percent, surpassing

April 24, 2015

Nuclear agreement with U.S. to boost Korean exports

The Korea-U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation pact signed Wednesday is expected to smooth Korean companies’ exports of nuclear power generation-related products and technologies, industry insiders said Thursday. Under the new deal, Seoul can transfer U.S.-originated nuclear equipment, technology and material to a third country without the consent of the U.S., as long as the respective country has a nuclear pact with the U.S. Seoul had been obliged to secure U.S. approval prior to the outbound ship

April 23, 2015

Reactor operator to demand GE compensation for parts

The nation’s nuclear power plant operator said Thursday that it is considering demanding compensation from General Electric for having supplied faulty parts, which led to a delay in operations of two nuclear power plants in Korea. According to the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., the U.S. energy giant on April 11 recalled nine plugs used for the Shin-Kori reactor 3 and 4. The parts were known to have had thermal process once, instead of the standard twice, but do not affect the safety

April 23, 2015

Won hits 7-year high vs. yen, bodes ill for exports

The South Korean won touched a seven-year high against the Japanese yen on Thursday, prodding the local currency authorities to raise their guard to minimize its possible impact on exports.The won-yen arbitrated exchange rate stood at 903.04 per 100 yen as of 3 p.m., the highest since Feb. 28, 2008, when the comparable figure was 889.23. Earlier in the day, the rate briefly dipped below the psychologically important 900-won level.The local currency closed at 1,082.20 per dollar, down 2.6 won fro

April 23, 2015

LNG price to be cut by 10.3 pct from next month: gov't

The price of liquefied natural gas will be cut by an average 10.3 percent from the start of next month, the government said Thursday, marking a third price reduction in just five months.The latest price cut, along with two previous reductions, reflects a drop in global oil prices, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy."The rate cut is the outcome of efforts to quickly reflect a cut in import prices due to a drop in global oil prices," it said in a press release.Unlike liquefied

April 23, 2015

S. Korea's economic growth picks up in Q1

South Korea's economic growth accelerated in the first quarter from three months earlier but remained below the 1 percent level in a sign of a tepid recovery, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's gross domestic product grew 0.8 percent on increased construction investment and improved spending in the January-March period, up from a 0.3 percent on-quarter gain three months earlier, according to the preliminary data by the Bank of Korea.From a year earlier, the economy expanded 2.4 perc

April 23, 2015

Korea-Japan bilateral trade dips 14% in Q1

Bilateral trade between South Korea and Japan stood at $18.4 billion (19.9 trillion won) in the first quarter of this year, dropping by 13.9 percent compared to $21.4 billion during the same period in 2014, data showed Tuesday.According to the Korea International Trade Association, the value of exports from Korea to Japan dropped on-year by 22 percent to reach $6.39 billion in the first quarter of 2015, while imports declined by 8.8 percent to stand at $12.54 billion.Market analysts said that sh

April 21, 2015

Gov't accelerates budget spending to spur economy

The government plans to spend nearly 60 percent of this year's budget in the first half in a bid to put the fizz back into the slowing economy, the finance ministry said Tuesday.The plan comes amid escalating concern that Asia's fourth-largest economy may grow at a far weaker rate than expected earlier due to slumping exports and persistently anemic domestic demand.The finance ministry retains its 2015 growth forecast of 3.8 percent, but the Bank of Korea cut its outlook to 3.1 percent from an e

April 21, 2015

Saudi Aramco to hold board meeting in Seoul this week

Saudi Arabian Oil Company, the world's largest crude oil exporter, will hold its board meeting in Seoul later this week, its local unit said Tuesday, with top Saudi Arabian government officials and business leaders to attend the annual gathering.It is the second time that the state-run oil giant, also known as Saudi Aramco, will hold its annual board meeting in South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude importer, following the first in 2011. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Aramc

April 21, 2015

BOK expects Fed's rate hike impact to be 'endurable'

South Korea's financial market could withstand a possible U.S. interest rate hike, the central bank said Tuesday, brushing off concerns that the move could trigger a massive outflow of foreign capital.Market watchers expect the U.S. Federal Reserve's first rate hike in almost a decade to come as early as June as the U.S. economy shows signs of recovery. A recent Bloomberg poll showed that 12 percent of the respondents projected a rate hike in June, while a whopping 71 percent predicted the Fed t

April 21, 2015

S. Korea's state minting agency aims to spur overseas sales

The head of South Korea's state-run minting agency said Monday that it is seeking to increase overseas sales as the demand for cash, its key profit source, weakens in tandem with soaring credit card usage in Asia's fourth-largest economy.In the latest move, the Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. has signed a contract with Indonesia media group EMTEK to sell its signature "ORODT" gold bars via a local televised shopping program starting next month."We also have recently si

April 20, 2015

S. Korea's cigarette sales plunge following price hike

The number of cigarettes released in the South Korean market plunged more than 40 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, the government said Monday, possibly reflecting an apparent drop in sales following a price hike.According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the amount of cigarettes released in the local market came to some 519 million packs in the three months, down 44.2 percent from the same period last year.A ministry official noted the number may be different from the numb

April 20, 2015

S. Korea's ratio of corporate debt to GDP high: report

South Korea has a high ratio of corporate debt to gross domestic product, a parliamentary report showed Monday, raising concern it could erode the nation's growth potential down the road.According to the report submitted to Rep. Oh Jae-sae and based on data collected from the McKinsey Global Institute, the size of South Korea's corporate debt reached 105 percent of the nation's GDP in the second quarter of 2014.It was the seventh-highest ratio among 15 key member countries of the Organization fo

April 20, 2015

Korea, Colombia to coordinate on renewable energy projects

South Korea will expand economic cooperation with Colombia in the clean and renewable energy sector by launching pilot projects for electric vehicles and energy self-sufficient villages in the South American country, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea said Sunday.Trade-Industry-Energy Minister Yoon Sang-jick inked a memorandum of understanding on renewable energy with Colombia’s Mines and Energy Minister Tomas Gonzalez in Bogota, the country’s capital, Friday.“We see vast possib

April 19, 2015

S. Korea's top central banker stresses restructuring efforts for growth

The chief of South Korea's central bank said Saturday that Asia's fourth-largest economy could get a boost in growth from an easing monetary policy, but concerted restructuring moves would be key to raising its growth potential.The South Korean economy is currently facing a combination of a low growth trend and low inflation, although the central bank trimmed the policy rate by a total of 0.75 percentage point to a record low of 1.75 percent over the past seven months."A monetary policy is a sho

April 19, 2015

S. Korea's grape imports hit record high in 2014

South Korea's imports of grapes reached an all-time high last year as free trade deals with Chile and other countries spurred the influx of the fruit, data showed on Sunday.According to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service, the country imported 59,260 tons of grapes worth US$189 million last year, an all-time record.Last year's grape imports mark a sharp rise from 28,437 tons in 2009 and 9,970 tons in 2004.During the first quarter of the year, imports of the fruit also surged 24.2 perc

April 19, 2015

Samsung, Hyundai's power grows stronger on corporate earnings

South Korea's two biggest conglomerates have expanded their presence, with their earnings accounting for over 80 percent of the profits of the top 30 business groups last year, data showed Sunday, in the latest sign of their concentration of wealth.Samsung Group and Hyundai Motor Group posted a combined net profit of 34 trillion won ($31.4 billion) last year, down 4 trillion won from the 38 trillion won in 2010, and the earnings from the remaining 28 conglomerates dipped to 8 trillion won from 4

April 19, 2015

Stock market rally produces large number of rich shareholders

The number of stock-rich shareholders on the country's secondary stock market, the KOSDAQ, surged this year on the back of a bullish run by the tech-laden bourse, data from a corporate tracker showed Sunday.According to Chaebul.com, there were 64 stockholders who have portfolios worth more than 100 billion won ($92.5 million) as of Friday, the highest-ever figure on record.That compares with 46 stock-rich shareholders on the KOSDAQ market earlier this year.Most of the stock-rich were major share

April 19, 2015