A continued oversupply of global steel products and growing protectionism around the world are weighing on South Korean steelmakers already struggling to find fresh growth engines for the future. Global steel production capacity last year stood at around 2.23 billion tons, down 0.3 percent from the previous year, said the OECD Steel Committee at a regular meeting in Paris last week. Though the figure was nearly unchanged, it far exceeded demand -- by 576 million tons, which was almost 19 times t

Industry March 31, 2019

Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo announced Thursday he would step down from all of his roles to take the blame for mismanagement, in a surprising turn of events just a day after the chairman of its rival Korean Air, Cho Yang-ho, was ousted from board membership. “I will leave my role as the chairman of the group. This is a decision made to take responsibility for the group mired in (financial) difficulties,” Park said in an email sent to employees Thursday. “The group will be run under t

Industry March 28, 2019

After years of being mired in controversies and scandals fit for a soap opera involving himself and his closest family members, Cho Yang-ho, chairman of South Korea’s largest air carrier, lost his board seat Wednesday after shareholders voted against extending his term as a director.Although he retains his management rights with shares held by his family, Cho becomes the first conglomerate chief ousted since the nation’s pension fund decided to actively exercise voting rights last year for respo

Industry March 27, 2019

Hyundai Steel elected its new board of directors during its annual shareholders meeting last week, in its first move to achieve this year’s corporate goals of expanding sales and innovating corporate culture, the steelmaker said Wednesday. The firm appointed new inside directors -- CEO Ahn Dong-il, Vice President Park Jong-sung and Finance Executive Suh Kang-hyun. CEO Ahn was also elected as chairman of the board of directors. As for outside directors, Chung Ho-yeol, a professor of Sungkyunkwan

Industry March 27, 2019

South Korea is slated to invest around 16 trillion won ($14 billion) in research and development for 100 key technologies over the next five years in its push to become a global technology powerhouse. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced its seventh industrial technology innovation plan Tuesday. The plan sets forth industrial technology research and development policy goals and related investment plans over the next five years under the Industrial Technology Innovation Promotion

Industry March 26, 2019

Posco Chairman Choi Jeong-woo chose Southeast Asia for his first overseas trip since taking office last year. According to the Korean steelmaker, Choi left for Indonesia on Monday to visit Krakatau Posco, a joint venture between Posco and Indonesia’s state-owned steelmaker Krakatau Steel. During his four-day trip, he is also slated to visit the firm’s production plants in Vietnam and its gas fields in Myanmar. “Operation sites are the key to a company’s competitiveness,” Choi said during his vis

Industry March 26, 2019

The South Korean government held a general meeting Monday to prepare for the 2019 International Renewable Energy Conference that will take place in October in Seoul. 123rfThe Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it discussed progress and preparation for the biennial conference with a preparation committee formed in December 2017. The meeting was attended by 37 organizations, including regional governments, companies and public organizations. IREC is the world’s largest renewable energy ev

Industry March 25, 2019

Hyundai Heavy Industries faces many obstacles to acquire state-funded Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering as it has to win approval from around 30 nations, including its Asian rivals and European clients. When the world’s two biggest shipyards are merged, their combined market share will be 21 percent, and above all, the market share of liquefied natural gas carriers would reach 63 percent. As for LNG vessels, orders are likely to rise further from 2020 due to environmental regulations of t

Industry March 25, 2019

South Korea plans to turn the nation’s robotics technology into a 15 trillion-won ($13.3 billion) industry, with the aim of becoming the fourth-largest player in the world by 2023. “Traditional manufacturing sectors can be transformed into future industries by making use of robots,” said President Moon Jae-in at a briefing session on the nation’s robot development strategy at the headquarters of Hyundai Robotics in Daegu, Friday. President Moon Jae-in demonstrates a robot at the headquarters of

Industry March 22, 2019

South Korean oil refiner S-Oil released an apology Thursday after pleading guilty to collusion and price-fixing in the process of providing oil to US forces in Korea. “S-Oil reached a settlement agreement with the (US) Department of Justice pertaining to charges against a violation of the US antitrust act during past bids for fuel supply to the US Forces Korea that have been under investigation,” said a spokesperson of the firm. The oil refiner added it deeply regrets the incident.The company sa

Industry March 21, 2019

South Korea needs to be ready for any implications associated with possible changes in US trade policy ahead of the US election next year, according to the Korea International Trade Association on Thursday. “This year is highly likely to be a watershed of the US trade policy that will determine the re-election of the President Donald Trump. Korean companies need to come up with countermeasures for both short-term implications in trade and possible changes in the mid- to long-term production netw

Industry March 21, 2019

South Korea is slated to set a goal of entirely shifting commercial vehicles -- including trucks and construction machinery -- to run on fuel cell energy by 2035 in its efforts to address serious fine dust problems, according to plans released by Transport Minister-nominee Choi Jeong-ho. Hydrogen-powered trains are also expected to be commercialized after 2025. The ministry’s plan was released on Wednesday by Rep. Yoon Kwan-seok of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who received documents fro

Industry March 20, 2019

South Korean steelmaker Posco has launched a joint promotion on Wednesday to promote SsangYong Motor’s new sport utility vehicle Korando, by exhibiting them in its headquarters in Seoul. This promotion is part of Posco’s campaign “Business with Posco” aimed for mutual growth with its partners, clients and suppliers. Posco Chairman Choi Jeong-woo (right) and SsangYong Motor's Vice President Yea Byung-tae (Posco)On the day, Posco Chairman Choi Jeong-woo joined a test-drive event of SsangYong’s new

Industry March 20, 2019

LS Cable & System said Tuesday it has launched cables capable of supplying shore-side electricity to vessels with the hope of replacing the conventional ways of power supply that results in air pollution. The cable is used to supply vessels anchored at a port with power from shore-side facilities. (LS Cable & System)The firm hopes this will replace the conventional way of generating power, which is made during the operation of the engine using bunker C oil as fuel. During this process, air pollu

Industry March 19, 2019

Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday it will invest $300 million in India’s largest ride-hailing platform Ola, its biggest investment so far.Under the agreement, Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Ola will collaborate on developing fleet and mobility solutions, as well as building India-specific electric vehicles and infrastructure, the firm said.Chung Eui-sun (right), executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola (Hyundai Motor)Through the partnership, O

Industry March 19, 2019