Posco International to supply structural steel to Incheon Airport

Posco International, the trading arm of Posco Group, is supplying Incheon Airport with 23,000 tons of structural steel to be used in expanding the airport’s second passenger terminal. They will be supplying curtain walls and roofing materials made with eco-friendly materials until Incheon Airport finishes the construction of Terminal 2 by 2024, according to Posco International. A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building made of lightweight aluminum and steel that does not carry th

July 26, 2022

Seoul jeonse prices fall for the first time in 39 months

The average jeonse price of apartments in Seoul this month fell for the first time in three years and three months as demand dropped due to increased lease renewals and rising interest rates while supply rose. Jeonse is a home rental system in Korea where a tenant pays a lump-sum deposit, instead of monthly rent, to a landlord. The deposit typically ranges between 60 to 80 percent of the unit‘s sale price, and is fully refunded at the end of the contract period. According to KB Kookmin

July 26, 2022

LG Energy Solution to set up 1st Korean battery recycling plant in China

LG Energy Solution said Tuesday it looks to set up its first South Korean-Chinese joint battery cell recycling facilities in China for stable supply of key battery materials from battery manufacturing scraps and used batteries. LG Energy Solution, Korea’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer by production capacity, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to launch a joint venture for the new recycling plant by the end of this year, according to its releas

July 26, 2022

Biden, SK chief to hold virtual meeting on July 26

US President Joe Biden and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday (US time) to discuss South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate’s spending and hiring plans in the US, according to the White House on Monday. “The president will virtually meet with the chairman and principal owner of the Republic of Korea conglomerate SK Group to discuss the company’s robust investments in American manufacturing and jobs,” the White House said, referr

July 26, 2022

Cheap boxed lunch sales rise amid growing ‘lunchflation‘

With South Korea’s consumer prices jumping a whopping 6 percent in June from a year earlier, many workers here are contemplating cheaper options, including takeout boxed lunch, instead of eating out. South Korean boxed lunch takeout chain Hansot Dosirak said Tuesday that its sales in restaurants near Seoul’s office clusters rose by 23 percent during lunch hours in June compared to the same month last year. On the back of workers experiencing “lunchflation,” the takeout

July 26, 2022

S. Korea's ice cream exports hit all-time high in H1

South Korea's exports of ice cream reached an all-time high in the first half of this year, data showed Tuesday, amid a global heat wave and the growing popularity of Korean culture. Overseas shipments of South Korean-made ice-cream products came to $50 million in the January-June period, up 14 percent from a year earlier to reach a record high, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports inched up 0.3 percent on-year to $28 million, also hitting an all-time high, during t

July 26, 2022

Refiners' H1 exports hit all-time high of $27.95b on higher oil prices, demand recovery

The exports of petroleum products by major refiners in South Korea hit a record high of $27.95 billion in the first half of this year on the back of higher oil prices and strong demand recovery amid eased COVID-19 restrictions, data showed Tuesday. The outbound shipments by SK Energy Co., GS Caltex Corp., S-Oil Corp. and Hyundai Oilbank Co. represent a 97.6 percent increase from a year earlier and surpassed the previous record high of $27.7 billion in 2012, according to a latest report by the Ko

July 26, 2022

LG Energy Solution joins hands with Huayou Cobalt to build battery recycling plant

LG Energy Solution Ltd. (LGES) said Tuesday it has signed a joint venture agreement with a Chinese mining company to build a battery recycling plant to secure raw materials for lithium-ion battery components. The joint venture deal with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. will commit the two companies to build two factories to extract nickel, cobalt and lithium -- key components for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles -- from scrap batteries and used batteries, the South Korean battery maker

July 26, 2022

Seoul shares open lower ahead of US rate decision

Seoul shares opened lower Tuesday as investors remain wary over a widely expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve this week to combat soaring inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.04 points, or 0.33 percent, to trade at 2,395.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Fed is expected to raise borrowing costs by 0.75 percentage point, which would put the US benchmark rate in a range of 2.25-2.5 percent. Also, some major companies, including Samsung Electronics

July 26, 2022

S. Korean economy grows at faster pace in Q2 on robust private spending

The South Korean economy grew at a faster pace in the second quarter than three months earlier as private spending picked up due to eased COVID-19 restrictions despite a fall in exports, the central bank said Tuesday. The country's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, grew 0.7 percent on-quarter in the April-June period, accelerating from a 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter, according to an advance estimate from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It mark

July 26, 2022

Bank of Korea warns against worsening wage-price spiral

The higher people expect prices to soar, the worse a wage spiral becomes as rising living costs prompt bigger wages, with persistent inflation on the rise, the Bank of Korea said Monday in a report. “Prices and wages look like they have nothing to do with each other, but in the long run, data consistently shows they do,” the report said, referring to surging prices in Korea. Inflation hit a 24-year high of six percent in June, prompting the central bank to back its first-t

July 25, 2022

Daewoo E&C develops property technology for work efficiency, customer satisfaction

South Korean company Daewoo Engineering & Construction will apply property technology it has developed to its construction procedures to optimize work efficiency and customer satisfaction, according to the company on Monday. Property technology is currently recognized as a game changer in the real estate market, utilizing the latest technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and virtual reality to carry out real estate-related work more efficiently. Daewoo E&C’s pro

July 25, 2022

[Photo News] Summer Extravaganza

A woman performs a hydroflying show at Caribbean Bay, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Monday.

July 25, 2022

Seoul shares end higher on institutional buying

South Korean stocks closed higher Monday, as institutions and foreigners went on a buying mode, with automakers and car parts suppliers leading the gains. The Korean won declined against the US dollar. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 10.55 points, or 0.44 percent, to close at 2,403.69. Trading volume was moderate at 316.23 million shares worth 5.77 trillion won ($4.39 billion), with gainers outstripping losers 427 to 400. Institutions and foreign investors bought a net 193.2

July 25, 2022

AmCham resumes Washington Doorknock program

The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea will resume the “Doorknock” program this year after a three-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said Monday. AmCham’s delegation of top-level executives, including AmCham Chairman and CEO James Kim, will be in Washington D.C. from this Wednesday to Friday to meet with key figures of the Biden Administration and Congress, it added. The delegation has secured more than 25 senior-level meetings with officials from various sec

July 25, 2022

Debate reopens on 10 year-old supermarket shutdown rules

Sundays are often a day for family shopping, but supermarkets in South Korea don’t operate every second and fourth Sunday of each month. Under the mandatory shutdown rules, designated to protect mom-and-pop stores nearby from losing sales to discount store chains, supermarkets have closed twice a month for the last 10 years. But the ability to shop every Sunday may become possible again with tens of thousands of consumers asking the presidential office to scrap the rule. According to

July 25, 2022

LG Energy Solution's lock-up period set to end

With LG Energy Solution’s stock lock-up period ending this week, market eyes are on institutional investors‘ movement, as massive sales of shares may impact a market that remains sluggish with low trading volume. According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system, the lock-up period for LG Energy Solutions shares owned by institutional investors -- 9,960,365 shares (4.26 percent of all shares) since the battery company was listed on January 27 -- wi

July 25, 2022

Dunamu to build metaverse map to aid global relief initiative

Dunamu, the operator of one of South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges, has teamed up with the international humanitarian medical non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders to build a map on its metaverse platform to help the global medical initiative, officials said Monday. Dunamu and Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, signed a memorandum to build a partnership on contributions in accordance with the environmental, social and governance movement i

July 25, 2022

Will FTX actually acquire Bithumb?

South Korean blockchain experts on Monday were divided over whether FTX, the crypto trading platform co-founded by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, is actually seeking to buy local exchange Bithumb. Skeptics claimed that the Bahamian crypto exchange has no reason to purchase Bithumb at the moment with the financial authorities seeking to tighten regulations here and with the “stable condition” of the Korean exchange operator. “For the moment, there is no reason for FTX to ent

July 25, 2022

Samsung starts shipping world’s first 3nm chips

Samsung Electronics has started shipping chips produced using the world’s most advanced 3-nanometer manufacturing technology, which has drastically improved power consumption and performance. On Monday, the tech giant held a ceremony to celebrate the departure of the first batch of 3nm chips from its chip-making complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, with some 100 company and government officials in attendance. The 3nm technology is Samsung’s secret weapon to outpacing its rival

July 25, 2022