DEC 16, 2011 (Korea herald)
South Korea will work to boost its food exports by more than 30 percent to $10 billion as part of its policy goals for next year, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Friday. The move comes as the country is expected to implement its free trade agreement with the United States in early 2012, which, the ministry earlier said, could lead to a reduction of 12.67 trillion won ($10.9 billion) in production by the country's agricultural, farming and fisheries industries. “The best way to help develop local industries is to boost their exports, which surely has to be based on increased production here,” said Park Hyun-chool, assistant minister for planning and coordination. The plan, along with other policy objectives for the ministry, were presented to the president in a report Friday. South Korea's food and agriculture exports surged to a new annual high in the first 11 months of the year with its total shipments expected to reach $7.6 billion. A 31-percent increase to $10 billion is not an easy task, Park noted. “It will be a really difficult goal to achieve, but one that shows the government's firm resolution to achieve,” he told a press briefing. Efforts to boost exports will include an injection of up to 800 billion won in government subsidies and low-interest loans in 2012 alone to help modernize the country's aging production facilities. “Modernization of production facilities is the most important element in boosting production, which supports increased exports,” the assistant minister said. A total of 10 trillion won will be injected over the next 10 years toward that end. The ministry will also seek to explore new export markets, including cities in the western inland of China, which is already the world's largest importer of South Korean products. “The ministry will work to develop new markets in western China while strengthening its promotion of Korean food products not only in large cities of Japan, such as Tokyo and Osaka, but also in small towns,” the ministry said. Efforts to develop new export items will also proceed from next year with the government set to invest some 490 billion won over the next 10 years from 2012 to develop 20 grain and fruit seeds specifically aimed for exports.
The South Korean government has decided to exclude chickens from its tariff quota list and make them again subject to the normalized tariff rate of 20 percent. The Korean government allowed zero-tariff imports of chickens due to the shortfall in chicken supply in the domestic market and the subsequent rise in chicken prices in last May. As the supply stabilized, the government has decided to adjust the imported volume of chicken. In addition, the government removes the tariff quota for flour, chickens for laying eggs, cocoa beans and corn oil along with chickens and applies the normalized tariff rates to the items. The Korean government announced the tariff alteration at a vice ministers' meeting Thursday. The decision is subject to the Cabinet approval. The tariff quota scheme for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be extended and therefore, any tariff will not be imposed to LPG products next year, according to a government office. The government has been granting zero-tariff for LPG since May. The tariff quota will continue to be applied to gasoline at three percent. Sugar will remain as one of tariff-free import items instead of being slapped with its previous tariff rate of 35 percent. The government has applied the tariff quota scheme to sugar since August 2010. “The tariff was lifted for items that significantly influenced the prices in Korea. The tariff quotas were removed from some items that have increased domestic outputs or of which the prices were stabilized,” a government official said. Given the continued inflation pressure, the government will maintain the tariff quota scheme for 110 items. [Written by Heon-cheol Shin - Haeun Bang / edited by Soyoung Chung]
DEC 15, 2011 (JoongAng Daily)
Korea's Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon said yesterday that the Korea-United States free trade agreement “will take effect sometime in February at the latest.” He told reporters at a press conference that “pushing the deal to go into effect from Jan. 1 is physically impossible.” His comments came as Korea's National Assembly ratified the related bill last month despite fierce opposition from liberal parties. Kim also said that “above all, the agreement will create jobs as there will be more foreign investment in Korea, which will lead to employment.” In the meantime, Kim also touched upon the Korea-Japan FTA issue. He said the big obstacle in getting through the deal remains the auto industry. “What's more of a matter than the tariff issue is that Korean cars in Japan are difficult to sell,” he said, noting that it will be hard to negotiate related terms so that they benefit the Korean auto industry.
21 DEC, 2011 (Korea Times)
Korea's coffee imports topped the $500-million mark this year, driven by the growing popularity of the drink among local consumers, a local trade association said Sunday. Korea imported coffees worth $508 million in the first 10 months of the year, already surpassing last year's imports worth $307 million in total, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). Increased coffee imports were attributed to more demand for diverse brands and high-end coffee products among Korean consumers. Growing popularity of instant coffee products also led to a spike in imports of coffee materials, the association said. The country's coffee imports topped the $300-million mark for the first time last year, after reaching the $100-million level in 2000. Coffee imports from Brazil reached $100 million in the January-October period, followed by Colombia with $91 million and Vietnam with $71 million, KITA said.
21 DEC, 2011 (MK Business News)
South Korea's central bank Governor Kim Choong-soo said Wednesday the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has raised the uncertainty of the financial market but this does not represent the risk of the market. At the Bank of Korea's (BOK) regular economic meeting, Kim said the market uncertainty has increased to the maximum level due to the heightened geopolitical uncertainties added to Europe's debt problem but uncertainty and risk should be distinguished from each other. Instead of describing the current uncertain situation as a risk, it is important to strengthen the basics with a mid- and long-term vision, he stressed. The central bank has more work than before with new options after the passage of a revised bill on the BOK last week, he added. [Written by Hyeok-hoon Jeong / edited by Soyoung Chung]
15 DEC, 2011 (Chosunilbo)
The world's largest furniture store chain IKEA is about to set up shop in Korea. IKEA Korea was recently registered at the Seoul Central District Court with a capital of W30 billion (US$1=W1,163). The CEO is Patrick Schurpf from Switzerland. Headquartered in Sweden, IKEA has over 300 stores in 35 countries and W40 trillion in annual sales. An industry insider said, "Since IKEA usually runs huge stores with over 16,000 sq. m surface, it is likely to take two or three years until the store actually opens here."
DEC 19, 2011 (Korea Herald)
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance minister said Monday the government is keeping close tabs on developments and will take all necessary steps to determine the economic impact of the North Korean leader's death. "Seoul is checking all changes, carefully analyzing their implications and what appropriate actions are needed to cope with the situation," Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said in a press release, after the death of Kim Jong-il was announced at noon Monday. He added that real-time monitoring of both overseas and domestic economic developments are underway. The country's top economic policymaker said the government plans to take active steps to deal with any changes that may occur, adding that South Korea will strengthen its cooperative channels with close allies and international credit rating agencies. The remarks come as both the country's benchmark KOSPI plunged and the foreign exchange market was rocked by the announcement of Kim's death. The finance ministry will also hold a emergency meeting to be chaired by Bahk at 3 p.m. to examine overall market uncertainties triggered by the event and its implications for South Korea, as it already struggles to cope with global economic woes. South Korea's economy has been expected to grow 3.8 percent this year, down from 6.2 percent growth tallied in 2010. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo said at a hastily convened meeting following the announcement of Kim's death that every effort must be made to check movements in the stock, bonds and foreign exchange markets and prevent uncertainty from disrupting the economy. He stressed that the BOK will work with other central banks to exchange market-related information and implement contingency plans in accordance with actions being taken by the government. This view was echoed by Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Kim Seok-dong who said there is a need to carefully gauge market reaction to the news and implement appropriate actions. FSC sources speculated the death could raise the overall geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula and could adversely affect exchange rates and the bourse. They said this latest development could exert enormous influence on local financial markets. "There is no need for the market to over-react to the news since all necessary measures are being taken to limit the actual fallout," an FSC official said.
Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy in Korea
Source : http://www.depthai.go.th