Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Minister Moon attends Local Win-Win Job Creation Signing Ceremonies

Trade, Industry, and Energy Minister Moon Sung-wook attended Win-Win Job Creation Signing Ceremonies held January 27 in Nonsan-si of Chungnam, and Jeonju-si and Iksan-si of North Jeolla Province where each region's labor, management, government, and community representatives came together to sign the Local Win-Win Job Creation Agreement. Pursued under the Special Act on Balanced National Development, the Local Win-Win Job Creation Agreement aims to create local jobs and stimulate investment bas date2022-01-28

Korea's 2021 retail sales advance 11.3 percent as both online and offline sales increase

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on January 27 that Korea’s annual retail sales in 2021 advanced 11.3 percent compared to 2020, thanks to strong online sales (up 15.7 percent). Brick-and-mortar sales also expanded by 7.5 percent.   The Ministry releases monthly retail sales figures based on surveys of 25 major retailers, 13 of which are brick-and-mortar retailers: three department store chains, three hypermarket chains, three convenience store chains, and four SS date2022-01-27

Korea's largest solar power plant starts commercial operation

Trade, Industry, and Energy Minister Moon Sung-wook attended the completion ceremony of Sinan Solar Power Plant located in Sinan-gun, South Jeolla Province on January 26.  The Sinan Solar Power Plant is a KRW 319.6 billion project with the participation of public power company Korea South-East Power Co. and domestic solar power company Topsun. It is the largest (150MW) solar power plant complex in Korea, built on saline wasteland with abundant sunlight, generating 209.7GWh of power per ann date2022-01-26

Cabinet passes National High-Tech Strategic Industries Special Act

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Moon Sung-wook announced at the 5th Cabinet meeting held on Janaury 25 the passing of the legislative bill for the National High-Tech Strategic Industries Special Act.   The Special Act aims to nurture and protect Korea’s high-tech strategic industries for building national and economic security as well as gaining high-tech competitiveness, and its details are as follows:   1) Form a National High-Tech Strategic Industries Committee un date2022-01-25

Korea and Saudi Arabia hold 3rd Vision 2030 Committee Meeting

Trade, Industry, and Energy Minister Moon Sung-wook co-hosted the 3rd Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee Meeting in Riyadh with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih on January 18 to discuss major achievements and future cooperation.   The Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 is a joint vision of the two countries in line with Saudi Vision 2030, a blueprint for realizing sustainable growth and new economic drivers while reducing Saudi Arabia’s dependence on its oil income.    In j date2022-01-20

Korea's automobile exports reach $46.5 billion in 2021

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on December 18 that Korea’s automobile export value for 2021 increased 24.2% to USD 46.5 billion, and export volume increased by 8.6% to 2.1 million units. In terms of automobile production and domestic sales, the industry saw declines of 1.3 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.   The export value maintained previous year-level growth despite prolonged COVID-19 pandemic difficulties. Hybrid cars exports (up by 71.0%) were the st date2022-01-19

ICT exports achieve all-time high in 2021

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on January 12 that shipments of Korea’s information and communications technology (ICT) products in 2021 hit an all-time high of USD 227.6 billion, up 24.0 percent from 2020.   This is the highest ICT exports recorded since beginning aggregation in 1996.   Imports went up 19.9 percent to $13.5 billion, and the trade balance stood at a surplus of $9.3 billion.   Exports of all four ICT product types increased. & date2022-01-12

Foreign direct investment pledges and arrivals to Korea both score record high in 2021

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on January 10 of 2022 that the annual foreign direct investments (FDIs) for 2021 increased by 42.3 percent to USD 29.5 billion. The FDIs that actually arrived in Korea over the same period expanded 57.5 percent to $18.0 billion.   Both FDI pledges and arrivals recorded all-time high annual figures on record.   Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, robust influx factors within the supply chain, vaccine and bio-healthcare, hydrogen econom date2022-01-10