ICT exports rise for 10th month in March on high demand for chips, displays

South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products rose 8.9 percent in March from a year earlier, marking the 10th consecutive month of on-year gains, thanks to healthy global demand for chips and displays, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of ICT goods reached $17.41 billion last month, compared with $15.99 billion the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Last month, imports reached $10.93 billion, up 15.7 perc

April 14, 2021

Chicken franchise sales soar in 2020 amid pandemic

Sales of South Korea's major fried chicken franchises jumped in 2020 as people resorted more to food delivery amid the coronavirus outbreak, industry data showed Wednesday. Kyochon, the biggest franchise, saw its top line surging 17.8 percent on-year to 447.6 billion won ($398 million) last year, and sales of No. 2 BHC shot up 25.7 percent to 400.4 billion won. It marks the first time that sales of local chicken franchises have exceed the 400 billion-won mark. Kyochon's operating income climb

April 14, 2021

Mobile game transactions hit record W1.66tr in Q1: data

Transactions on mobile games in South Korea reached a record high in the first quarter of this year, data showed Wednesday, amid the pandemic-driven online gaming trend. Mobile game transactions stood at 1.66 trillion won ($1.48 billion) in the January-March period this year, compared with 1.48 trillion won the previous year, according to local mobile app tracker IGAWorks, which reviewed data from 40 million mobile devices running on Apple's iOS and Google's Android. IGAWorks said the endless

April 14, 2021

Liquor firms fare badly in 2020 on pandemic fallout

Liquor companies in South Korea performed poorly in 2020 as people consumed less alcohol due to the coronavirus outbreak, data showed Wednesday. Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., a major maker of beer and soju, a Korean distilled liquor, saw its sales shrink 7.7 percent on-year to 2.16 trillion won ($1.92 billion) last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Lotte Chilsung, also the country's leading beverage manufacturer, reported an operating income of 97.2 billion won

April 14, 2021

S. Korea basks in 1st job additions in 13 months amid recovery hope

South Korea reported the first job additions in 13 months in March in the latest sign that the job market is recovering after a yearlong slump caused by the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people reached 26.9 million last month, 314,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the first time that Asia's fourth-largest economy added jobs since February 2020, when the number of employed people grew by 492,000. The COVID-19 p

April 14, 2021

Export prices up for 4th month in March

South Korea's export prices rose in March, marking the fourth straight monthly gain amid a modest recovery in exports, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's export price index, in terms of the local currency, rose 3.3 percent in March from the previous month, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marked the fourth consecutive month of an on-month rise. In February, the index rose 3.1 percent on-month. From a year earlier, the index rose 5.6 pe

April 14, 2021

Woori joins Vietnam electronic network for cashless payments

Woori Bank said on Tuesday it has completed a project led by the Vietnamese central bank to jointly set up an electronic network for financial transactions aimed at promoting cashless payments in the Southeast Asian nation. Woori Bank Vietnam was the only foreign lender among nine commercial banks selected to build the Automated Clearing House, a computer-based electronic network for processing transactions designed by the State Bank of Vietnam. The network is a part of the Vietnamese governm

April 13, 2021

Consumer financing firms' profit jumps in 2020 on interest income

Consumer financing firms in South Korea saw their combined net profit jump 24.7 percent on-year in 2020, supported by a modest gain in interest income, data showed Tuesday. The combined net profit of 112 credit-specialized financial firms stood at 2.56 trillion won ($2.27 billion) last year compared with a profit of 2.05 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their interest income rose 2.9 percent on-year to 5.8 trillion won last year,

April 13, 2021

S. Korea's money supply grows in February

South Korea's money supply continued to grow in February, as loans to households and firms increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,274.4 trillion won ($2.9 trillion) as of end-February, up 1.3 percent from a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 jumped 10.7 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply

April 13, 2021

Q1 auto exports up 17% on increased demand for SUVs, eco-friendly cars

South Korea's exports of automobiles shot up nearly 17 percent in the January-March period from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, on the back of rising demand for premium automobiles, including SUVs and eco-friendly cars. Outbound shipments of automobiles reached 555,430 units in the first quarter, compared with 475,165 units posted a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, exports also jumped 31.5 percent to US$11.9 billion. Exports in Mar

April 13, 2021

ABS issuance dips 39.7% in Q1

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) in South Korea plunged 39.7 percent in the first quarter due to a sharp decline in sales of government-led mortgage funds, data showed Tuesday. The value of ABS issues stood at 13.7 trillion won ($12.1 billion) in the quarter, down 9 trillion won from a year ago, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). ABS are structured with mortgages, auto loans, credit-card receivables and student loans as underlying assets. The plun

April 13, 2021

Moon’s housing policy faces call for review after election defeat

The election of Seoul’s new mayor has left the central government’s housing policies in limbo, as the administration is expected to face pushback from the conservative bloc that is campaigning to ease real estate regulations. The political realignment following the results of the by-election last week has sparked concerns over possible policy shifts for the property market. The government and ruling Democratic Party of Korea are expected to hold talks to revise real estate policies

April 12, 2021

Banks to tighten grip on loans in Q2 amid pandemic: poll

Banks in South Korea are expected to tighten their lending to households and big companies in the second quarter of this year, as credit risks will remain high amid the pandemic, a central bank poll showed Monday. The Bank of Korea's index measuring the banks' attitude toward fresh loans came to minus 2 for the second quarter. The lower the reading, the more likely banks will tighten their restrictions on lending. A reading below zero means that the number of lenders that will restrict lending

April 12, 2021

Fine dust emissions from coal plants halve on operation cap

Fine dust emissions from coal plants more than halved over the past four-month period compared with two years earlier, data showed Monday, after the country limited their operations during the winter. Local coal plants generated 3,191 tons of fine dust from December last year to March 2021, sharply down from 6,549 tons posted in the same period two years earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea started regulating the operation of coal power plants in late 2

April 12, 2021

Exports grow 24.8% in first 10 days of April

South Korea's exports rose 24.8 percent on-year in the first 10 days of April as shipments of chips and autos remained robust amid an economic recovery from the pandemic, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at US$15 billion in the April 1-10 period, compared with $12 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Imports increased 14.8 percent on-year to $16.7 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.7 billion during the cited pe

April 12, 2021

S. Korea's 2019 tax-GDP ratio lower than major economies

South Korea's tax burden ratio remained unchanged in 2019 from a year earlier and was lower than that for other major economies, a report showed Monday. The country's tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio came to 20.1 percent in 2019, unchanged from the prior year, according to the report from the Korea Institute of Public Finance. South Korea's figure was 4.8 percentage points lower than the average for the members of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (

April 12, 2021

Foreigners remain net sellers of S. Korean stocks in March

Foreign investors unloaded more than 3.5 trillion won ($3.12 billion) worth of South Korean stocks in March to remain net sellers for the fourth consecutive month, data showed Monday. Offshore investors' net selling of local stocks came to 3.51 trillion won last month, up from 3.24 trillion won in net selling in February, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. Foreigners have remained net sellers of South Korean stocks since December. Investors from Asia and the America

April 12, 2021

Mideast 'early inoculators' to recover by 2022: IMF

DUBAI (AFP) -- The economies of "early inoculating" countries in the Middle East and North Africa will bounce back to pre-pandemic levels next year, the IMF said Sunday, after raising its 2021 MENA growth forecast. The region, which includes the Arab countries and Iran, saw its real GDP growth shrink by 3.4 percent in 2020 due to lower oil prices and sweeping lockdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.  But with rapid vaccination campaigns underway particularly in the Gu

April 11, 2021

5 makers of sewage pipes fined W890m over price fixing

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Sunday it has decided to fine five manufacturers of sewage pipes a combined 890 million won ($796,000) for colluding to fix prices of industrial products. Dobong Pipe and six other companies colluded to fix their quotations between 2012 and 2017 for 243 rounds of sewage pipe purchasing bids by public institutions, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). The deal is valued at 27.3 billion won. Of the seven firms, the regulator decided to impo

April 11, 2021

[Weekender] Starting the day with a miracle morning

  Hong Ha-hyun, an ad designer in her 30s, has an important Zoom meeting to attend at 5 a.m. every day. The meetings are not about work, but about boosting positivity in her life, she said. With 35 people she met online, Hong reads books, meditates or drinks a cup of tea before dawn. Since September, the online community Dawning Designer has given her a chance to practice “miracle morning” rituals, leaving her feeling empowered and relaxed. “I believe the daily lives o

April 10, 2021