Strong demand from developing countries leads to surge in shipments Date: July 12, 2010
Source: Yonhap News
Korea’s exports and trade surplus in the industrial parts and materials sector surged to record high levels in the first half thanks to strong demand from developing economies, a government report said yesterday.
The report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said exports jumped 47.9 percent on-year to $109.5 billion, the highest ever six month tally since Seoul started compiling data on parts and materials in 1994.
The ministry said the outbound shipment total surpassed the previous record of $96.9 billion reached in the second half of 2009, with China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) accounting for around 47 percent of all parts and materials exported by the country.
Exports to China, which was the largest buyer of locally made goods, reached $40.0 billion, with ASEAN countries purchasing $11.8 billion worth of goods.
The latest findings also showed the country’s trade surplus hitting a new high of $37.2 billion, exceeding the previous record of $30.7 billion reported for the last six months of 2009.
Imports in the January-June period rose 35.3 percent to $72.4 billion.
“Although exports to China and developing economies fueled growth, demand for locally made goods increased in the United States and Europe,” a ministry official said.
While Korea posted a trade deficit of $12.0 billion with Japan, the country had a favorable trade balance with most other countries, he said.
By industry, exports of automobile parts, car engines and semiconductors increased by triple digits vis-a-vis the year before, with double digit gains reported for general machinery and electronic parts.
The ministry said the first half showed the country’s industrial parts and material businesses entering a “stable growth” period helped by improvements in quality and overall price competitiveness. It predicted a similar situation in the second half.
Date: July 7, 2010
Source: JoongAng Daily
Shipping companies are preparing to file lawsuits against international cargo airlines accused of cartel activities, according to Cho & Lee, a local law firm, yesterday.
The firm said two shipping companies were planning to sue 21 airlines including Korean Air and Asiana Airlines for an undisclosed amount of damages. One of the two is TCE, a shipping firm based in Busan that is no longer in active operation. The name of the other plaintiff was not released.
“The level of punishment [the airlines] received was lower than expected [in the Fair Trade Commission case] as some of the airlines that came forward at the Fair Trade Commission and revealed their wrongdoings saw their fines reduced,” said Lee Dae-soon, an attorney at the law firm. “Shipping companies saw huge losses due to the cartel activities.”
Lee said he is asking more shipping companies to participate in the lawsuit, but most of them were unwilling to do it because they were afraid of spoiling their relationships with the airlines. On May 27, the Fair Trade Commission issued reprimands and levied 120 billion won ($98.5 million) worth of fines against 21 airlines in 16 countries.
The forthcoming suit is related to a case in which the U.S. Justice Department fined the airlines for fixing international fuel surcharges on cargo shipments and other related charges in 2007. The U.S. FTC said it was willing to provide all related materials and evidence to the plaintiffs.
Though class-action suits are allowed in securities-related cases, Lee said it would only become a class-action suit if more shipping companies participated. Lee said victory was highly likely because of the FTC fines. “There are a lot of similar lawsuits ongoing against airlines in the United States and Europe,” Lee said.
Date: July 7, 2010
Source: JoongAng Daily
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. - Diageo Korea, famous for distributing branded spirits such as Windsor and Johnnie Walker here, is entering the Korean wine market.
The distributor on July 5 hosted reporters in California wine country, offering tastings of six different types of Sterling Vineyards wines: Sterling Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Sterling SVR Red, Sterling Reserve Chardonnay, Sterling Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Sterling Napa Valley Merlot and Sterling Napa Valley Chardonnay.
Sterling wines are famous among avid wine seekers for their quality, and they have been the official wines of the Academy Awards for six years.
“The Korean wine market, which has grown continuously over the years, seems to have fallen,” said Kim Jong-woo Diageo Korea CEO. “This is a natural phenomenon from growth based on quantity. We will continue to introduce a wide variety of quality wine to contribute to growth based on quality.”
Date: July 9, 2010
Source: DongA Ilbo
Foreign direct investment in Korea fell by 6.7 percent in the first half of 2010 to $4.33 billion from $4.64 billion a year ago, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said yesterday.
The ministry blamed the slight decrease on the stronger value of the Korean won, which makes investments more expensive, and the lingering effects of the global financial crisis.
The average value of the won was 1,154 against the U.S. dollar in the first half of this year against 1,351 won to the dollar in the first half of 2009.
However, FDI inflows on a quarter-on-quarter basis increased 81 percent in the second quarter to $2.8 billion from $1.54 billion in the first quarter, indicating economic conditions were rapidly improving.
So-called new growth industries, including biomedical, renewable energy, light-emitting diodes and software, received a bigger share of FDI this year, accounting for 31.3 percent of total FDI against 15.8 percent last year.
Investment in manufacturing, including medicine and chemical engineering, rose 19.6 percent on-year to $1.99 billion, while investment in the service sector, including retail, fell 23 percent to $2.27 billion.
Foreign direct investments from emerging economies, including China and the Middle East, surged 80.5 percent on-year to $1.9 billion, investments from advanced economies, including the U.S., Japan and Europe, fell 32.5 percent to $2.4 billion.
“Despite the decline of FDI in the first half, the country’s investment conditions are improving,” the ministry said. “As the global economy recovers, there will be more flow of investment.”
The government has set an FDI target of $13 billion this year, up from $11.5 billion in 2009.
7 ideas selected for support in health care, autos, phones
Date: July 9, 2010
Source: JoongAng Daily
In a bid to strengthen Korea’s competitiveness in the global software industry, the government yesterday introduced seven major projects to be finished by 2012. The so-called “World Best Software” program will be given a budget of around 1 trillion won total over the next three years.
“Korea is known to be a leading information technology country, but its focus until now has largely been on only developing several of the hardware industries like semiconductors, liquid crystal displays and cell phones,” said Cho Seok, director of new growth at the Knowledge Economy Ministry, yesterday. In a briefing at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, Cho told reporters, “It is now time for Korea to invest in developing software goods and programs as part of the country’s new growth engines.”
Despite Korea’s reputation as an IT exporter, producing many of the world’s high-tech devices including cell phones, automobiles, robots and ships, the software to use those items is mainly imported from overseas.
Korea’s software industry still lags far behind the rest of the developed world. As of last year, Korean software took up merely 1.8 percent, or $17.8 billion, of the total global market, and its export share was also low at 0.8 percent, or $7.9 billion.
According to the ministry, the World Best Software program, which encompasses both the manufacturing and service sectors, will help boost Korea’s exports of value-added software in the long run.
To promote the program, in March this year the government received potential ideas from software experts to develop the country’s software industry. A total of 477 projects were submitted, of which seven were selected. These were announced yesterday.
In the manufacturing industry, three detailed projects have been selected, including the development of an aircraft software solution that would allow the building of unmanned aircraft, an open mobile Web platform expected to replace current smartphone platforms in the future, and a plan to develop software to control electrical components in motorized vehicles.
The software to be developed for the service industry was mainly related to the security, health care and transportation sectors. One would involve the development of an automatic fare collection system for convenient transfers on public transportation, aimed at eventual export.
Meanwhile, the government is planning on introducing additional software projects this year in the energy and auto sectors, both very lucrative export industries here.
Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy in Korea
Source : http://www.depthai.go.th