Nickel’s price surge threatens carmakers’ EV push

Price increases of metals essential for electric batteries could spell trouble for automakers who are already struggling to keep costs down in the face of supply chain disruptions, market insiders said Wednesday. The price of nickel is surging as Russia, a key supplier of the metal, faces extensive global sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday, the price of nickel doubled to $100,000 per metric ton, causing the London Metal Exchange to suspend trading for the rest of the day on wo

March 9, 2022

Choco-Pie makers on alert as Russian isolation deepens

Orion and Lotte Confectionery -- the makers of Choco Pie, a popular snack in Russia -- are closely monitoring the economic sanctions imposed by the international community against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, as they could cause instability in the supply of raw materials, a drop in the ruble’s value and a local economic recession. Orion, known for its popular signature snack Choco Pie, has expanded the production capacity of its local plants in Russia. Since 2019, the company has

March 9, 2022

Cheap Korean currency likely to fan inflation

SEJONG -- Concerns are growing over the possibility that the nation’s import prices will further shoot up in the wake of the continuously weakening Korean currency against the US dollar amid the Ukraine-Russia war. The unfavorable scenario has come to the fore amid the recent situation that import prices of raw materials, including crude, had already sharply climbed over the past several months. According to Statistics Korea, import prices grew 30.1 percent in January on-year. Amid inves

March 9, 2022

Samsung’s highest-paid executive received W11.8b in 2021

Samsung Electronics’ former mobile business chief Koh Dong-jin was the highest-paid executive at the Korean tech giant last year, according to the firm’s regulatory filing Tuesday. Koh, who has stepped away from daily operations to assume an advisory role, took home an annual pay of 11.8 billion won ($9.5 million) last year, including bonuses worth 4.04 billion won and a retirement pay of 6.43 billion won. In a year-end reshuffle in December, Koh stepped down from the post along w

March 9, 2022

Doosan acquires stake in chip-testing firm Tesna for W460b

South Korean conglomerate Doosan Group has become the largest shareholder of a local chip-testing firm, Tesna, in a move to secure a footing in the surging semiconductor market. According to Doosan Wednesday, the group recently purchased a 38.7 percent stake in Tesna for 460 billion won ($373.1 million). Founded in 2002, Tesna has specialized in testing various chips, including processors for smartphones, camera image sensors and radio frequency chips for wireless communications. The firm,

March 9, 2022

Hyundai Ioniq 5 named UK car of the year

Hyundai Motor’s all-electric Ioniq 5 was named the UK car of the year, for its stylish design, power efficiency and practicality as a family car, the company said Tuesday. Ioniq 5 took the throne after being awarded the top prize in the Best Family Car category, beating out nine other UK car of the year category winners. Among the top 10 finalists were Fiat 500-e, Skoda Fabia, Kia Ceed, Genesis G70 Shooting Brake, Toyota Yaris Cross, Skoda Enyaq, BMW iX, Porsche Taycan, and Hyundai i20N.

March 8, 2022

Hyundai Motor's factory in Russia remains closed amid Ukraine crisis: company officials

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. has cancelled a plan to resume the operation of a factory in Russia due to continued supply disruptions amid the Ukraine crisis, company officials said Tuesday. Hyundai Motor originally planned to reopen the temporarily suspended operation of the factory in St. Petersburg on Wednesday but called it off due to persisting supply shortages of automotive semiconductors, according to the officials. The plant has been shut down since March 1. Automotiv

March 8, 2022

No. of female outside board members at large companies grows, but few CEOs

There are more female members in corporate boardrooms in South Korea this year, as a revised law obliging big companies to improve gender diversity is due to take effect in August. But the presence of women executives yielding actual management power is still far from the global average, a survey and data showed Tuesday. Of the 104 outside directors set to start their terms in the first half of this year, 45 are female, according to data from market tracker Leaders Index.  Out of 73 execu

March 8, 2022

Russia’s new bond rules pile pressure on Korean firms

Russia on Tuesday threatened to pile pressure on Korean businesses by introducing new bond rules to allow Russian companies to pay their foreign creditors in the Russian ruble, even for securities denominated in other currencies. Companies here that prefer to get paid in the US dollar immediately started reviewing the impact, raising concerns that the new measure could eventually lead to a default. Russia may not be a major market for many Korean firms, but big names like Samsung Electronics

March 8, 2022

Daewoo E&C earns first carbon credit revenue from Pakistani plant

Daewoo Engineering & Construction said Tuesday that it has earned its first revenue from sales of emissions credits through its hydropower plant project in Pakistan. The Patrind Hydropower Plant, located near the village of Patrind in Kashmir, Pakistan, was completed in 2017 in a joint venture project between Daewoo E&C and the state-run Korea Water Resource Corp. The power plant now generates 630 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year. The plant, registered to the UN as a Clean Develo

March 8, 2022

Hyundai begins sales of the latest 2022 Avante

Hyundai Motor announced Tuesday that it will officially begin sales of the latest 2022 model of Avante, its compact sedan. The 2022 Avante comes with enhanced sound-absorbing doors and with more basic and extra options. The model will have 8-inch display audio in all trims, which before was only applied on its ‘smart’ trim. Hyundai added extra options such as ‘Smart Sense 3’ which includes rear collision prevention assistance and safety exit warning, as well as the cho

March 8, 2022

Real estate prices soar on metaverse, too

Korea’s metaverse real estate sales platform Metaverse 2 said Tuesday its virtual land price has surged in the last six months, amid the growing trend towards alternative ways to build wealth using the blockchain technology. The company said the price of some shares that own Lotte World Tower, the country’s tallest building and one of the most famous landmarks in Seoul, increased 180,000 times to $18,300 as of Friday. The average price of 10 square meters of land in New York City&r

March 8, 2022

US exempts Korea from export restrictions on Russia

The US government has formally exempted South Korea from its expanded export restrictions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Tuesday. The US Department of Commerce added Korea to the list of countries to be excluded from license requirements, including from the foreign direct product (FDP) rules for Russia and Belarus. Also on the list are member states of the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand. “Provi

March 8, 2022

S. Korean stocks tumble, currency weakens as oil prices surge

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi and the Korean won tumbled on Tuesday, with surging oil prices triggered by the US-led ban on Russian crude threatening to fuel the intensifying inflationary pressure here. The main bourse Kospi settled 1.09 percent down from the previous session at 2,622.4, falling for the third consecutive day. Foreigners offloaded a net 472.8 billion won ($382.2 million) worth of shares, while institutions sold a net 293 billion won. Retail investors bought a net 732 bi

March 8, 2022

Watchdog likely to investigate Samsung Electronics over ‘GOS’ scandal

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog is expected to investigate Samsung Electronics over a complaint that the company has exaggerated the performance of its Galaxy smartphones. According to industry sources Tuesday, the Fair Trade Commission received a complaint that Samsung Electronics violated advertisement law when it promoted its Galaxy S22 smartphones. With the complaint filed to the FTC, the watchdog is likely to launch a preliminary investigation soon and look into whether Samsung El

March 8, 2022

Posco Chemical-GM to build joint EV battery material factory in Canada

Posco Chemical said Tuesday it will build an electric vehicle material factory with General Motors in Canada. According to the refractory and secondary battery materials arm of South Korean steel giant Posco, the two firms will together invest $400 million to construct the first phase of a cathode production facility in Quebec, Canada. The two parties discussed a joint cathode factory since December. More investment will be made depending on GM’s future EV business. Cathodes are mate

March 8, 2022

S. Korean shipbuilders rank first in global new orders in Feb.

South Korean shipbuilders took the top spot in global new orders in February, far outpacing their Chinese rivals, industry data showed Tuesday. Local shipyards, led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., clinched 860,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs) in new orders last month, or 67 percent of the global total at 1.29 million CGTs, according to data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service. It represents the first time in three months that South Korean shipbuilders have ranked fir

March 8, 2022

[Graphic News] Instant noodles rank 1st in food output in 2020

　Instant noodles captured the top spot in production among food products in South Korea in 2020 on a surge in exports amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　The output of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean, stood at 1.93 million metric tons in 2020, up a whopping 231 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. 　Ramyeon’s ranking in terms of production was up 12 notches from the previous year. 　Carbonated drinks ra

March 8, 2022

Seoul stocks open steeply lower on Wall Street plunge

South Korean stocks opened steeply lower Tuesday on overnight losses on Wall Street amid concerns that the surging energy prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine may hamper the post-pandemic economic recovery. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) had retreated 23.13 points, or 0.87 percent, to 2,628.18 points as of 9:17 a.m. Stocks dropped as investors are worried that rising energy costs may incur a global energy shortage and hurt the economic recovery. The tech-he

March 8, 2022

Samsung says recent cyberattack causes no personal data breach

  Samsung Electronics said Monday that a recent cyberattack by a hacking group on its system did not cause major harm to its business and customers. In a statement posted on the company's internal forum, Samsung said no personal information of its customers and employees was stolen and there will be no impact on its business operation. "There has been no personal data breach, although leaked information includes some source codes necessary to run the Galaxy phones," Samsung said

March 7, 2022