15 chicken-processing firms fined W176b for price fixing

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Wednesday it has decided to impose a combined fine of 175.8 billion won ($141.4 million) on 15 poultry-processing companies for colluding to fix prices. Sixteen companies, including industry leader Harim Co. and Orpum Co., colluded to fix prices and supplies of chickens on 45 occasions between November 2005 and July 2017, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). The companies held a combined share of more than 77 percent in the market and their 12-year

March 16, 2022

Airlines to sharply hike fuel surcharges on int'l routes in April

South Korean airlines are set to sharply raise fuel surcharges on international routes in April due to soaring jet fuel prices, industry sources said Wednesday. Starting April 1, the surcharge for one-way tickets on international routes will range from 28,600 won ($23) to 211,900 won, depending on the routes, according to them. The planned increase will raise the surcharges to the highest Level 14 from the current Level 10, which ranges from 18,000 won to 138,200 won. In April 2021, rising jet f

March 16, 2022

Renault drops Samsung's brand from new name of S. Korean operations

Renault Samsung Motors Corp., the South Korean unit of Renault S.A., said Wednesday it has dropped the Samsung brand from its new company name as the deal with the South Korean conglomerate over the brand's use ends in August. Starting Wednesday, the company will use the new name of Renault Korea Motors while pushing ahead with the procedure to change the corporate name by August, a company spokesman said over the phone. From January to February, its vehicle sales jumped 84 percent to 24,82

March 16, 2022

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rallies

South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street that stemmed from a plunge in oil prices. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 18.55 points, or 0.71 percent, to trade at 2,640.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 2.92 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1.8 percent, largely as oil prices dipped below $100 a barrel amid talks between Russia and Ukraine. Inves

March 16, 2022

Job growth extended for 12th month in Feb. amid economic recovery

The number of employed people in South Korea increased by more than 1 million on-year for the second straight month in February due to a low base effect and the economic recovery, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 27.4 million last month, up 1.04 million from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The tally was lower than an on-year increase of 1.14 million in January, the largest in almost 22 years, but the number of employed people grew m

March 16, 2022

Grain import prices soar 47% over 2 years

South Korea's import prices of grains have jumped nearly 50 percent over the past two years to a near nine-year high amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Prices of imported grains came to $386 per ton in February, up 26 percent from a year earlier and 47.4 percent from two years earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. The February per-ton import price represented the highest level since it reached $388 in May 2013. Last month

March 16, 2022

Air Busan expands flights to Saipan amid vaccinations

Air Busan Co., a budget carrier unit of Asiana Airlines Inc., said Wednesday it has expanded flights on the Busan-Saipan route to preemptively respond to pent-up travel demand amid rising vaccinations and eased virus curbs. On Jan. 23, Air Busan began to offer one flight per week on the Saipan route following a travel bubble agreement with Saipan, a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases. Starting Wednesday, the low-cost c

March 16, 2022

6 companies to recall over 92,000 vehicles over faulty parts

Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp. and four other companies will voluntarily recall more than 92,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Wednesday. These are the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea due to problems with vehicle components. The six firms, including Ford Sales Service Korea and Porsche Korea, are recalling a combined 92,450 units of 12 different models, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. The p

March 16, 2022

Gen MZ in heavier debt than people at same age in 2000

Young Koreans born between 1980 and 1995, called “Gen MZ” to refer to both millennials and Generation Z, earned a little more but faced bigger debt in 2018 than people at the same age in 2000, the Bank of Korea said in a report. In 2018, Gen MZ -- aged between 23 and 38 -- earned 1.4 times more than what was earned by the same-age peers in 2000. But debts were 4.3 times greater in 2018 than 2000 among people who were identified as Gen MZ at the time. Meanwhile, &ldqu

March 15, 2022

[Test Drive] Volvo C40 Recharge: Sporty, fun but pricey

Simple but sporty is how Volvo’s first all-electric SUV Coupe, the C40 Recharge, can be best described. The first impression of C40 Recharge is that it looks very similar to the brand’s first pure electric compact SUV XC40 Recharge, both from the outside and inside. But on a closer look, the C40 Recharge design has added a spoonful of sportiness. Volvo got rid of XC40’s roof and instead, it let the roof line slip toward the back to make it more aerodynamic and energy efficie

March 15, 2022

[UP IN THE AIR] Volocopter eyes Asia-Pacific as key market for air taxi service

Stepping closer to a longtime dream of mankind, Volocopter, a Germany-based startup that develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft, will start a commercial air taxi business in the next two years -- but overcoming regulatory hurdles and gaining public acceptance remains a challenge. “At this point, it is no longer a question of if electric air taxi services will come to cities around the world, but when,” said Hon Lung Chu, Head of Singapore and BD Southeast As

March 15, 2022

Market keen on Yoon’s pledge to ease capital gains tax

SEJONG -- A key issue in the real estate market this year is whether the coming Yoon Suk-yeol administration will follow up on his promise to grant a reprieve for a capital gains tax surchargers on owners of multiple homes in Seoul. President-elect Yoon had pledged to delay the application of extra taxation on owners of multiple homes for up to two years. His pledge came amid criticism that multiple homeowners had declined to sell their properties due to the high rate of capital gains tax. In

March 15, 2022

LG CNS offers personal data log service

LG CNS said on Tuesday it began pilot operation of an app that collects, stores, analyzes and processes personal data on everything from daily transactions to hours spent on YouTube to making recommendations for smart spending The Haruzogak app brings together pieces of data scattered across different apps, records a customer’s daily life, and reports how much she spent on delivery food, how many times she visited convenience stores and how many hours she spent on stock investments e

March 15, 2022

Generational shift speeds up in chaebol leadership

Chaebol scions in their 40s and 50s are increasingly taking over their fathers’ sprawling business empires recently, speeding up a generational shift at South Korea’s family-run conglomerates. According to a report by chaebol tracker Korea CXO Institute on Tuesday, there were a total of 270 executives at the nation’s 200 largest companies who are scions of the ownership families born in 1970 or later. Of them, the number of those with the chairman title was 21, including tw

March 15, 2022

Young Koreans eye Yoon‘s W100m savings account scheme

Young South Koreans are anticipating the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s version of its state-backed savings account, with a goal of helping investors accrue 100 million won ($80,500). The state-backed savings account would allow South Korean residents aged between 19 and 34 to subscribe and submit a monthly payment of a maximum 700,000 won for a 10-year term, with an annual yield of 3.5 percent, a booklet of Yoon’s presidential pledges published by the People Power Party sh

March 15, 2022

SK Geo Centric to accelerate waste plastic recycling push with PureCycle

SK Geo Centric announced Tuesday a $55 million investment in US-based waste plastic recycling firm PureCycle Technologies, as well as plans to create a joint venture with the US firm within this year. SK Geo Centric was the new investor taking part in PureCycle‘s $250 million private fundraising via common stocks, announced March 9, along with existing shareholders including Sylebra Capital and Samlyn Capital. The net proceeds will support the construction of PureCycle plants in Ohio and

March 15, 2022

Housing biz sentiment dips for 3rd month in March

South Korea's housing market sentiment shrank for the third straight month in March amid waning hopes of business improvements, a poll showed Tuesday. The Korea Housing Institute said its housing business sentiment index (HBSI), based on a survey of about 500 construction firms, stood at 66.2 for this month, down 1.7 points from the previous month. Yet March's on-month decrease was smaller than the previous month's decline of 9.7 points. A reading below 100 means the number of companies forecast

March 15, 2022

SK On to beef up EV battery alliance with Ford

An upcoming electric vehicle battery plant in Turkey built by South Korean company SK On is the latest testament that its battery alliance with US carmaker Ford is ever becoming stronger. On Monday, SK On announced plans to set up a new plant on the outskirts of Ankara, Turkey, with an annual capacity of between 30 and 45 gigawatt-hour starting as early as 2025, in a deal with US carmaker Ford and Turkish conglomerate Koc. The battery arm of South Korea-based conglomerate SK, Ford and Koc hav

March 15, 2022

Container freight rates skyrocket in Feb. on cargo recovery

Outbound container shipping costs shot up in February from a year earlier on a recovery in global sea cargo, government data showed Tuesday, in a big burden to South Korean exporters. The average rate for a 40-foot container from Asia's fourth-largest economy to the European Union came to 14.02 million won ($11,300) last month, up a whopping 261.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS). Compared with the previous month, the cost was up 9.5 percent

March 15, 2022

Samsung's foundry market share rises in Q4, narrowing down gap with TSMC: report

Samsung Electronics Co. expanded its share of the global foundry market in the fourth quarter, slightly narrowing down the gap with the industry's leader TSMC, a report showed Tuesday. The South Korean chipmaker's share rose 1.1 percentage points to reach 18.3 percent in the October-December period, according to market analyst firm TrendForce, while the dominant market player Taiwan's TSMC shed 1 percent to 52.1 percent. Samsung's foundry business grew 15.3 percent from the previous quarter, com

March 15, 2022