Exports by large firms grow at fastest pace in 2021 amid economic recovery

Exports by South Korean large companies rose at the fastest pace on record in 2021 as demand for chips and autos remained robust amid the global economic recovery, data showed Tuesday. Overseas shipments by the country's 875 large exporters were valued at $415.8 billion in 2021, up 29.5 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea and the Korea Customs Service. It marked the fastest on-year gain since 2015, when the agencies began compiling related data. The a

May 24, 2022

BOK surely to raise key rate again this week amid inflation woes: poll

Almost all market watchers expect the Bank of Korea (BOK) will raise its key interest rate this week to combat inflation and align with monetary tightening in major economies, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the poll of 100 bond market experts conducted by the Korea Financial Investment Association, 94 percent said the central bank will hike the interest rate at a rate-setting meeting to be held Thursday. The ratio was much higher than the 50 percent that expected a rate hike in a similar Ap

May 24, 2022

Daewoo Shipbuilding builds 3D-printed ABS model ship

South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Tuesday it has successfully constructed a 3D-printed plastic model vessel that could help cut costs and improve productivity. Daewoo Shipbuilding said it has joined hands with U.S. 3D printer maker Ingersoll in building the 10-meter-class, twin-skeg ship made of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), which will be tested in its research lab in Siheung, about 26 kilometers southwest of Seoul. It represents the first 3D-printe

May 24, 2022

Samsung Biologics, AstraZeneca shutting down their joint venture Archigen Biotech

Samsung Biologics Co., the biotech arm of South Korea's Samsung Group, is shutting down its joint venture with multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca Plc., a company official said Tuesday, due to the suspension of the development of a biosimilar product. The move came two months after Samsung Biologics' board approved the liquidation of Archigen Biotech Ltd., a 50-50 joint venture set up with AstraZeneca, in 2014. Archigen Biotech was responsible for developing SAIT101, a bio

May 24, 2022

Samsung SDI-Stellantis battery JV to be built in Indiana

Samsung SDI Co., a major South Korean battery maker, will build an electric vehicle battery plant in the US state of Indiana with Stellantis N.V. and plans to make the announcement this week, industry sources said Tuesday. The announcement, reportedly set for Tuesday (US time), would come after the two companies said in October they were forming a joint venture to build what would be the first US battery cell plant for the South Korean battery maker. An official from Samsung SDI declined to comm

May 24, 2022

Seoul shares open lower ahead of Fed minutes release

Seoul shares opened lower Tuesday, bucking overnight gains on Wall Street, as investors await the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest rate-setting meeting this week to take a cue about the US central bank's future tightening move. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 1.73 points, or 0.07 percent, to trade at 2,645.65 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 percent to 31,880.24 and the tech-focused Nasdaq index gained 1.6

May 24, 2022

Number of executives at major firms rises 4.5% in Q1

The number of executives at South Korea's major firms expanded 4.5 percent on-year in the first quarter of the year despite the coronavirus pandemic, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. A total of 353 leading companies in Asia's fourth-largest economy had a combined 14,418 executives as of end-March this year, up from 13,803 a year earlier, according to the Leaders Index. The figure covers companies out of the country's top 500 corporations by sales that have disclosed their first-q

May 24, 2022

Land Minister vows to ease price ceiling on privately built apartments

New South Korean Land Minister Won Hee-ryong pledged Monday to announce measures to ease the cap on presale prices of privately built apartments, a scheme adopted by the previous Moon Jae-in administration widely criticized for failing to curb the housing prices here. “The scheme has been introducing side-effects to the market as it forcefully puts a cap on the presale prices when it doesn’t consider parts of maintenance cost or the rising raw materials cost,” Won said at a p

May 23, 2022

Investors warned over ‘frothy’ markets amid wobbly Kospi

As unprecedented stimulus packages to fuel South Korea’s COVID-hit economy run out, investors are increasingly worried over a possible bubble burst in stocks, property and cryptocurrencies that would make it harder for the already wobbly benchmark Kospi to return to its record highs a year ago. The Bank of Korea, which has already lifted interest rates twice this year to combat red-hot inflation, is expected to back another raise Thursday while eyeing more hikes later in the year. Rising

May 23, 2022

[Test Drive] Porsche Taycan GTS is racing car, but stable

The Porsche World Roadshow, featuring diverse driving programs such as circuit driving, slalom course, and launch braking offered by the German carmaker, resumed in South Korea on May 19 after skipping a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Porsche Korea had around 28 models including the Taycan GTS, a model yet to be launched in South Korea, lined up for test drives at Everland Speedway in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The Taycan GTS was definitely the eye-catcher of the event, as not only it is t

May 23, 2022

Korea's first lunar mission named 'Danuri'

South Korea's first lunar probe mission, formally known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, has been named "Danuri," the Ministry of Science and ICT said Monday. Danuri is a combination of the two Korean words "dal" and "nuri," meaning moon and enjoy, respectively. According to the ministry, the name expresses a desire for the country's first moon mission to be successful, and for the probe to enjoy everything that the moon has to offer. Between Jan. 26 and F

May 23, 2022

Policymakers seek drastic cut in real estate tax

SEJONG -- The Yoon Suk-yeol administration is considering easing the comprehensive real estate tax rate for home owners holding a single unit to a considerable extent, starting this year. According to officials at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the government is moving to scale back their tax burden to the level in 2020. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho was quoted by local media on May 12 saying that, “(taxpayers) have shouldered a three or four-fold burden

May 23, 2022

SK assesses W18tr of social value created

SK Group, South Korea‘s second-largest conglomerate by assets, disclosed Monday actions to create social value and tools to measure how much impact it has generated through 2021 in numbers. The group with its subsidiaries contributed 18.4 trillion won ($14.5 billion) to issues such as unemployment, climate change, phone scams, blood shortages, car accidents due to drowsy driving, among others. The figure rose 60 percent from that of 2020, its estimate showed. SK had nearly 190 affiliates

May 23, 2022

Samsung seeks foundry supremacy with 3nm chips

One of the key moments of last week’s summit talks between South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden was the two signing a semiconductor wafer, not a visitors’ book, during their visit to Samsung Electronics’ chip manufacturing complex in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. It was the first time that the wafer, produced by Samsung’s new 3 nanometer technology, was unveiled to the public. The Korean tech giant plans to start mass production of th

May 23, 2022

Korean robot maker Rainbow Robotics records W3.6b in sales, up 182 percent

South Korean robotics maker Rainbow Robotics said Monday that it recorded 3.6 billion won ($2.8 million) in sales in the first quarter this year, up 182 percent on-year.  The Korean robot maker said the local market’s demand for collaborative robots that work with humans has pulled up its sales, as well as increased exports of its device that tracks certain targets with accuracy to the global market. Its operating profit came to 600 million won.  Collaborative robots assist hu

May 23, 2022

Coway launches customizable bed frame

South Korean furniture and home appliance brand Coway said Friday that it has launched a new customizable bed frame product to reflect consumer trends shifting towards personalization. The product, Coway My Frame, allows consumers to customize the bed’s color, height and design. They can choose from a wide range of color and style combinations for the bed frame‘s headboard and sideboard, according to the furniture maker. Customers can alter the design later to accommodate lifestyl

May 23, 2022

Posco to supply steel for hyperloop

Posco said it will supply 2,100 tons of hot-rolled steel material to be used in a hyperloop, or a high-speed transportation system where pressurized vehicles travel through a low-pressure tube, at a test facility in the Netherlands. The steelmaker said it will begin supplying the PosLoop355, specially developed to be used for the hyperloop tube, to Hardt, the Dutch company that is building the European Hyperloop Center, from next month. The PosLoop355 absorbs vibrations at 1.7 times the rate o

May 23, 2022

Foreign banks in S. Korea see profits down 4.5% in 2021

Foreign bank branches in South Korea saw their combined net profit down 4.5 percent in 2021 due to a rise in securities-linked losses amid market downswings, data showed Monday. The combined net income of 35 foreign lenders' local branches stood at 1.15 trillion won ($904.4 million) in the fiscal year of 2021, down 53.5 billion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Those branches either closed their books for the fiscal of year 2021 in

May 23, 2022

Foreign currency deposits down for 2nd month in April

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea shrank for the second straight month in April due in part to companies' increased withdrawals to pay for investments and imports, central bank data showed Monday. Residents' outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits had reached $86.99 billion as of end-April, down $5.72 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Residents include local citizens, companies, foreigners staying here for mor

May 23, 2022

SK Bioscience wins $31.3m deal to supply chickenpox vaccines to Latin America

South Korean vaccine maker SK Bioscience Co. said Monday it has secured a $31.3 million deal from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to supply chickenpox vaccines to Latin American countries. SK Bioscience said it has recently delivered its first batch of shipments of SKY Varicella, the company's chickenpox vaccine introduced in 2018, to Central and South American countries through PAHO. SK Bioscience said it won the deal from PAHO in February. PAHO is an international public healt

May 23, 2022