Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korean exports fall 3.2 percent in October

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in its press release on Nov 1 that South Korean exports fell 3.2 percent to  USD 4.19 billion  compared to the same month previous year, while on-year inbound shipments posted $3.48 billion, a 5.4 percent drop. Accordingly, the country's trade balance last month stood at  $7.2 billion, remaining in the black for 57 months straight.  Main factors negatively affecting the exports performance included fewer working d date2016-11-01

7th round of negotiations for Korea-Central America FTA open in Seoul

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that 7th round of talks for an free trade agreement between Korea and six Central American countries composed of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, was open in Seoul on Oct 24 for a week-day run.    Yeo Han-koo, Ministry's Deptuy Director General of FTA, expressed hope that all parties involved will strive to make progresses for signing a high-level trade pact.   This round of talks will focus date2016-10-24

Korea to operate four nuclear reactors in UAE for 60 years

Korea and the United Arab Emirates signed a deal to set up a joint venture to operate four nuclear reactors under construction in Bakarah ,the United Arab Emirates, on Oct 20 in Abu Dhabi.   Under the deal, the UAE’s nuclear operator and the Korea Electric Power Corporation, the prime contractor for UAE’s first nuclear plant construction, will set up the joint venture to operate the four reactors in Bakarah for the next 60 years.   KEPCO will secure an 18 percent date2016-10-20

KATS recommends consumers stop using Galaxy Note 7

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the roof of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy issued three recommendations for consumers and Samsung Electronics, the manufacturer of Galaxy Note 7, on Tuesday following a meeting on Monday which concluded that there is a possibility of a new type of defect in the mobile phone beyond the battery issue.  Below are the three recommendations issued collectively by KATS officials, Samsung Electronics and technological experts date2016-10-11

Domestic automotive sales and production fell in September

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Oct 7 that the domestic automotive sales fell 13.8 percent to 128,674 units in September compared with the same period last year, with the end of the special consumption tax cut.   Local car production also dropped 22.7 percent to 258,026 units last month from a year ago mainly due to the prolonged walkout of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, the county’s top two automakers.   Affected by the shrinking car production, car export date2016-10-07

Korea's fresh FDI hits new record high in first 9 months of 2016

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on Oct 4 that foreign direct investment newly pledged in the first nine months of this year has reached a record high of USD 15.05 billion, a 13.4 percent climb from $13.27 billion a year ago.   It marked the largest amount of FDI pledged in history for a nine-month period, surpassing the earlier record of $14.8 billion tallied over the same period in 2014. For the third quarter alone, new FDI pledges also gained 2.1 percent on-year to a date2016-10-04

Korean exports fall 5.9% in September

    Partial strikes at major automobile companies including Hyundai Motor has negatively affected the exports by 79,000 units of cars. As a result, car exports dived 24 percent compared to the same month last year, to $ 1.14 billion. Wireless device exports, such as Samsung Electronics' Galaxy note 7, plunged as well by 27.9 percent to $ 0.37 billion. The fall of four major exports, which consists of wireless devices, cars, ships and petrochemicals, led  the plunge of total monthly export. The four key industries together are responsible for $ 2.5 billion of export decrease, which amounts to 93.9 percent.     Product-wise, year-on-year statistics fell but major export products shown signs of recovery regardless of walkouts in automobile industry and fewer working days. Semiconductors enjoyed renewed demand since September 2015, thanks to global launching of new smartphones and smartphone products and month-on-month unit price increase. However last year's record of the same month was the second highest in its history, thus outbound shipment of semiconductors consequently suffered a slight on-year fall of 2.6 percent  in comparison. Computers and auto parts have also shown higher international demand with 13.3  percent and 3.5 percent  export increase, respectively.     Regionally, outbound shipments to Vietnam and Japan remained on the positive terrain with 16.9 percent and 6.3 percent climb. But exports bound to China sank 9.1 percent as well as those to U.S., 6.1 percent, and the EU, 14.5 percent.                   date2016-10-01

Korea unveils policy direction to strengthen competitiveness of steel and petrochemical industries

South Korean economic ministries, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, unveiled on Friday their coordinated plans to strengthen the competitiveness of steel and petrochemical industries, both of which face an oversupply issue.   A policy direction to sharpen an edge of the troubled shipping and shipbuilding is expected to be announced in October.   To maintain global demand for Korean steel and petrochemical products, the government will encourage and help reduce date2016-09-30