Korea’s Agriculture Ministry and the Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp. said Sunday that they will be representing Korea at the United Kingdom’s largest biannual food trade show.Korea will be participating in the International Food and Drink Event with 17 companies selling everything from fermented sauces to snacks and organic food under the slogan of “Tradition and Health, Innovation.”  Visitors line up at Korea’s booth at the IFE 2015 (aT)These companies hope to close $28 million worth of tra

Industry March 19, 2017

Online retailers are expanding their reach to offline shoppers, setting up independent stores and entering department stores, with 13 such new stores slated to open at Lotte Department Store in the first half of 2017.“Online brands are continuously expanding into offline stores to raise their brand value and to receive real-time feedback from consumers,” Lotte Department Store said in a press release.Online fashion brands often start out as small enterprises that find their competitive power in

Industry March 19, 2017

Casamia Uffia is known as the office furniture arm of the midsized furniture house Casamia, but the company’s President Lee Hyung-woo says he prefers to describe his company in a different way.“Office furniture is actually not the majority of our sales,” he told The Korea Herald at Casamia Uffia’s showroom in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. “We design various commercial spaces, whether they be libraries, hotels, or office buildings.”Lee Hyung-woo, president of Casamia Uffia (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea

Industry March 17, 2017

The idea of minimalism is often perceived in a quantitative sense. However, in today’s consumer market minimalism is not about buying less but about buying better, and retail players are scrambling to present items and services that can encourage spending by appealing to consumers’ sense of value. Minimalist storage and decoration items available at Ikea (Ikea)“Today’s consumer does not care about the perception of others. Everything is focused on finding happiness for the self, for defining one

Industry March 17, 2017

Korean air carriers are temporarily reducing flights to China, as the country’s unofficial ban on travel to Korea went into effect Wednesday.　The nation’s largest air carrier Korean Air said that it would be reducing flights on low-demand routes “under circumstances in which demand for China-bound flights will unavoidably fall.”　The ban, which lasts until April 23, will affect 79 flights on eight routes out of Korean Air’s 38 routes to China. The airline said that reservations for its China-boun

Industry March 15, 2017

Furniture brand Casamia launches a new brand called Daily Casa focusing on interior design items and furniture at affordable prices, with two stores located at Homeplus outlets in Incheon and Suwon. The Daily Casa store in Incheon is pictured in the photo. (Casamia)

Industry March 14, 2017

Premium whisky brand Imperial‘s low-strength whisky brand “35 by Imperial” was crowned “Best of Best” in the whisky category at the 2017 Korean Wine & Spirits Awards, according to parent company Pernod Ricard Korea.“Thirty-five by Imperial was awarded due to the efforts that have grasped the sensory characteristics, such as smoothness and harmony, which domestic consumers have recently preferred,” said Pernod Ricard Korea’s Director of Imperial Marketing Kim Kyung-yeon. 35 by Imperial (Pernod Ri

Industry March 14, 2017

Korean companies with business interests in China anxiously awaited the World Consumer Rights Day set for Wednesday, as they anticipated heavy blows from the Chinese government in retaliation for Korea’s installment of a US anti-missile defense system.March 15, or World Consumer Rights Day, is an annual event in which particular companies are called out and exposed for bad practices. Previous corporations that have been featured on the “3.15 Gala” show aired on Chinese network CCTV for practices

Industry March 14, 2017

Kumho Asiana Group said Monday that it would give up its buyback option for Kumho Tire if it is not allowed to form a consortium to pay for the deal.Kumho Tire, which was separated from the group in 2010 as part of a debt restructuring deal, is poised to have its controlling stake held by creditors sold to preferred bidder Qingdao Doublestar, a tire manufacturing company listed in China.“We cannot understand why Qingdao Doublestar is permitted to form a consortium of six companies while we are n

Industry March 13, 2017

Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo is drawing near to the long-awaited reclamation of Kumho Tire, as the company’s creditors are set to sign a stock purchase agreement with preferred bidder Qingdao Doublestar on Monday.The deal to acquire a controlling stake in Korea’s second-largest tire company is worth 955 billion won ($826.5 million). Although Doublestar has been named the preferred bidder, Park retains the right of first refusal.  Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo (Kumho Asiana

Industry March 12, 2017

Top Korean cosmetics companies are preparing for a beauty expo coming to Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province in September.According to North Chungcheong Province, 81 companies have registered to participate in the Cosmetics & Beauty Expo, Osong Korea 2017, which will take place from Sept. 12-16 at Osong Station. This is the expo’s fourth year.  Buyers receive information about cosmetics at the Cosmetics & Beauty Expo, Osong Korea 2016 (North Chungcheong Province)Major participants include The S

Industry March 12, 2017

The Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday upheld a 1.8 trillion won ($1.55 billion) fine slapped on Samsung SDI Co. over allegations of rigging prices for parts used in computer and TV screens.In December 2012, the European Commission imposed the penalty on Samsung SDI, the battery-making arm of South Korea's top conglomerate, and its Malaysian and German affiliates for allegedly fixing prices and allocating customers between themselves from 1996 to 2006 in the television and comput

Industry March 9, 2017

The state-run Korea Gas Corp. has filed a compensation suit against 13 construction companies over allegations they fixed prices for building its storage tanks, the companies said Thursday.The world's largest LNG importer filed the some 200 billion won($172 million) suit with the Daegu District Court on Feb. 16, according to the announcement made by Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. and Daelim Industrial Co.  The logo of KOGAS (KOGAS)In April last year

Industry March 9, 2017