Seoul shares open lower on fears of global recession

Seoul shares opened lower Tuesday, tracking falls on Wall Street, amid investor concerns over a global recession after the US Federal Reserve vowed to continue its monetary tightening to tame inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index declined 10.63 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,341.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.49 percent to 32,757.54, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 1.49 percent to 10,546.03. Last week, t

Dec. 20, 2022

Big firms' capacity utilization dips below 80% in Q3

South Korean large companies operated below 80 percent of their capacity in the third quarter of the year due to the global economic downturn, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. The average capacity utilization rate of 200 out of the country's top 500 firms by sales came to 78.4 percent in the July-September period, according to the Leaders Index. It was down 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier and even lower than the 79.4 percent posted in the third quarter of 2020, months after the c

Dec. 20, 2022

COVID-19 test kit exports hit all-time low with ebbing pandemic

Data showed Monday exports of COVID-19 test kits in November hit an all-time low since the pandemic spread globally in 2020. Exports of COVID-19 test kits in November logged $74.47 million, or 96 billion won, according to the Korea Customs Service. The figure marks the lowest since April 2020, when the first wave of the pandemic spread widely across the globe. At its peak, exports of test kits hit over $500 million in each of January and February this year. The decrease in exports mirrored the d

Dec. 19, 2022

LG Energy Solution to invest W4tr in battery plant expansion

South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution will invest 4 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in expanding battery manufacturing facilities at its Ochang plants in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, through 2026, the company announced Monday. Representatives from the battery maker, the local government of North Chungcheong Province and the city of Chungju signed the investment agreement earlier in the day. The investment will go toward expanding and upgrading the cylindrical battery production line

Dec. 19, 2022

Sales of cold medicine at convenience stores shoot up

Sales of over-the-counter medicines at convenience stores in South Korea have increased amid the latest resurgence of COVID-19 infections and outbreak of seasonal influenza. Since November 2012, the government has allowed convenience stores to sell several kinds of over-the-counter medicine. According to convenience store chain GS25, sales of cold medicines between Dec. 1 and 15 increased by 128.3 percent on-year. Sales of other over-the-counter medicines also went up 78.1 percent during the per

Dec. 19, 2022

Seoul shares down for third day on global recession worries

Seoul shares ended lower to extend their falls for the third consecutive day Monday as investors remain concerned the US Federal Reserve's additional rate hikes could result in a global recession next year. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 7.85 points, or 0.33 percent, to close at 2,352.17, extending its losing streak to a third session. The trading volume was moderate at 312.32 million shares worth 4.85 trillion won ($3.72 bill

Dec. 19, 2022

Lodging and restaurant jobs limit fall in youth employment

The number of young adults under 30 working in South Korea’s lodging and restaurant businesses rose by a combined 134,000 people on-year in November, but about 70 percent of those new jobs were part-time or daywork, according to data from Statistics Korea. The data showed that out of the 3.91 million workers aged 15-29, 652,000, or 16.6 percent, worked in the lodging and restaurant industries in November. This was a 3.4 percentage-point increase from a year earlier. The lodging and restaur

Dec. 19, 2022

Samsung, SK hynix to face grim Q4 due to weak demand: report

South Korea's leading semiconductor makers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix face a grim outlook in their fourth quarter sales due to sluggish demand for memory chips, a report said on Monday. In a report, Daol Investment and Securities forecast that Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip and mobile phone maker, would log sales of 73.2 trillion won ($56.2 billion) in the fourth quarter this year, down 4.4 percent than the previous year. Operating profit would plunge by 4

Dec. 19, 2022

[Feature] Unstaffed store with ever-changing prices offers glimpse of future

Every time the clock's long hand strikes 12, electronic price indicators in this uncrewed convenience store change to reflect data the store's artificial algorithm collects on each product's expiration date, remaining stock and local demand. Customers are required to follow a few simple steps to shop there. They check the changes in price, scan each product's bar code via smartphone and make transactions through the phone. They then can exit the store with an armful of grocer

Dec. 19, 2022

Korea to extend tax cuts as inflation saps demand, growth

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced Monday plans to extend tax reduction on certain products such as vehicle and energy fuel as well as consumption tax on passenger vehicles. However, the tax cut for gasoline will only be partially reduced due to some stabilization. The fuel tax reduction for vehicles, set to expire at the end of the year, has been extended to April 30. The cut for gasoline will be adjusted from the current 37 percent to 25 percent, as its price has stabilized, the min

Dec. 19, 2022

FCI builds gigafactory for fuel cell and electrolyzer in the coastal city of Pohang

Korean energy solution provider Fuel Cell Innova­tions gives a fresh momentum to the new Hydrogen Fuel Cell Industrial Park in the coastal city of Pohang with a fuel cell and electrolyzer GW scale manufacturing plant. The energy company plans to invest a total of 150 billion won ($115 million) by 2027 to produce key hydrogen fuel cell components in an automated plant at Pohang’s Blue Valley National Industrial Complex. The company renewed its commit­ment to cooperating with Pohang

Dec. 19, 2022

Lee Tae-won, FCI researcher turned CEO

With nearly 25 years of experi­ence in the energy-related tech­nology development field, Fuel Cell Innovations Chief Executive Officer Lee Tae-won is a veteran engineer. An expert in fuel cells, bat­teries, hydrogen, energy storage systems, and carbon capture, Lee has held the reins at FCI since the company was established in 2018, steering its key policies. After obtaining his doctoral de­gree in Chemical Engineering at Columbia University in 1996, Lee worked as a fuel cell and

Dec. 19, 2022

[Feature] Korean streaming services overhaul strategies as growth slows

Faced with faltering subscriber counts and deteriorating profitability, South Korea's over-the-top (OTT) media, or video streaming services, are making seismic changes as they seek strategies to achieve sustainable business growth. Despite the growing popularity of streaming services worldwide, local firms’ profits have worsened due to their heavy investment in content. The three major domestic streaming services -- Tving, Watcha and Wavve -- have logged an accumulated deficit of 157

Dec. 19, 2022

S. Korea's sea level rises nearly 10cm over 33 years

The sea level of South Korea rose nearly 10 centimeters over the past 33 years as a result of climate change, government data showed Monday. The country's average coastal surface height grew 9.9 cm between 1989 and 2021, with the yearly average coming to 3.01 milometers, according to the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency. The East Sea saw the largest increase of 3.53 mm per year on average, followed by the Yellow Sea with 3.08 mm and the southern sea 2.55 mm per year, the data sho

Dec. 19, 2022

LG Display to end LCD TV panel production as early as year-end

LG Display Co., a major South Korean display maker, is expected to stop producing liquid-crystal display panels for TV by the end of this year at the earliest, industry sources said Monday, amid falling profitability and fierce competition from Chinese rivals. The company said in a regulatory filing last week that it was reviewing an end of production at its LCD TV panel factory in Paju, north of Seoul, without specifying the exact date of production suspension. The panel maker has been scaling

Dec. 19, 2022

S. Korea's export growth to drop to 0% range in 2023: poll

South Korea's export growth is expected to fall to the zero-percent range in 2023 amid high raw material prices and slowing major economies, a poll showed Monday. The survey of 150 companies in the country's 12 key export industries showed overseas shipments are forecast to expand 0.5 percent in the coming year from 2022. By sector, exports of electric and electronics products are predicted to sink 1.9 percent on-year, with those of petrochemicals likely to fall 0.5 percent. Outbound s

Dec. 19, 2022

Seoul shares open lower on recession fears

South Korean shares opened lower Monday on growing fears of a global economic slowdown over the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening to tame inflation. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 11.29 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,348.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, US shares ended lower as weak data on the real economy and the Fed's rate hikes stoked fears of the global economy facing a hard landing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.85 percent, and

Dec. 19, 2022

Top executives of Korean conglomerates join CES, WEF next year

Top executives of South Korea’s largest businesses are embarking on a business charm offensive in a move to expand their global presence. Many executives are now expected to participate in upcoming global business events, such as the World Economic Forum and the Consumer Electronics Show next year in a move to get face-to-face contact with their industry peers. So far, only SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has confirmed his trip to the WEF in Davos, Switzerland. However, there are chances fo

Dec. 18, 2022

LG Electronics chosen as Corporate Startup Stars in CSS Award

LG Electronics has been chosen as one of the most active corporations working with startups and was honored for its collaboration practices in East Asia at the seventh Corporate Startup Starts Awards. According to LG Electronics on Sunday, it has been named a East Asia Corporate Startup Star for its cooperation with startups in East Asia. The award is divided into seven regional awards -- Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Middle East, East Asia, China. The CSS Awards, jointly organiz

Dec. 18, 2022

Minister confirms South Korea’s participation in US-led chip alliance

South Korea is highly expected to join a strategic chip alliance proposed by the United States, as the trade minister stressed the country “cannot miss out” in the semiconductor industry, a key pillar of the Korean economy. Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang said the government is considering joining the so-called Chip 4 grouping that connects the four global chip powerhouses -- South Korea, the United States, Taiwan and Japan. “We really cannot miss (opportu

Dec. 18, 2022