SK Group, the nation’s third-largest conglomerate, posted $60 billion in exports this year, accounting for over 10 percent of the nation’s total exports for the second consecutive year.

The business group said Wednesday that its exporting subsidiaries, including SK Innovation, SKC, SK Chemicals and SK Hynix, are expected to post $61.4 billion in exports, a fivefold increase from $12 billion in 2005. The company shifted to an export-led strategy in 2004 when chairman Chey Tae-won presented growth in the global market as its key management strategy.

The export figure accounts for 71.1 percent of the companies’ total sales and 10.9 percent of the nation’s total exports, an estimated $55.9 billion.

SK Hynix saw the strongest performance with 42 percent growth in exports from last year. Following the acquisition last year, the company developed the world’s first high-capacity 8-gigabyte and 6-gigabyte LPDDR3 mobile dynamic random access memory chips.

Its chemical companies, including SK Chemicals and SKC, saw a 5 to 7 percent rise in global shipments this year on the back of strong performance in the petrochemical and polyethylene terephthalate film segments.

SK Innovation said it is expected to see $45 billion in export sales this year by expanding exports of oil products, developing petroleum overseas and creating new overseas markets.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)