SEJONG, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Exports of semiconductors produced by South Korean firms reached a record high last year on soaring prices and firm demand, customs data showed on Friday. The outbound shipment of chips reached US$99.71 billion last year, sharply up 60.2 percent from the $62.23 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. The 2017 [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — POSCO said Sunday it will diversify its business portfolio to include infrastructure, biotechnology and new materials as South Korea’s No. 1 steelmaker marked the 50th anniversary of its foundation. Laying out its long-term vision, the company said it aims to increase its sales by twentyfold to 500 trillion won [...]
SEOUL, March 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Moody’s Investors Service said Thursday that Hyundai Steel Co.’s plan to sell its 5.7 percent stake in auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co. is credit positive for the steelmaker. But the planned stake sale will not have an immediate impact on Hyundai Steel’s Baa2 stable rating, the global ratings agency said in a statement. “The share sale if it goes ahead as planned will generate after-tax cash proceeds of [...]
SEOUL, March 28 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix said Wednesday it plans to maintain its lead in the Chinese market by focusing on quality products, amid concerns that Beijing may reduce imports of South Korean chips by buying more from the United States. “The Chinese market calls for products with [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Tirebank, a midsized South Korean tire retailer, said Tuesday it will join the bid to acquire Kumho Tire Co., which China’s Qingdao Doublestar Co. seeks to take over from creditors. At a press conference in Daejeon, about 160 kilometers south of Seoul, the company’s chief Kim Jeong-kyu said the [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s troubled automobile industry faces yet another blow amid growing speculation that the government might trade the sector in for favorable steel tariffs. Speaking to the press at Incheon Airport, South Korean trade minister Kim Hyun-jong. who had just returned from Washington, said, “Understanding on the bilateral FTA and [...]
GWANGJU/SEOUL, March 26 (Korea Bizwire) – The labor union of Kumho Tire Co. on Monday spurned a call by state-run creditor bank to let all employees vote on the planned sale of a majority stake in the troubled tiremaker to China’s Qingdao Doublestar Co. The rebuff came shortly after Lee Dong-gull, chairman and CEO of the Korea Development Bank (KDB), called for all employees of Kumho Tire to vote on the future of the company. Lee told reporters [...]
SEOUL, March 26 (Korea Bizwire) – Cheong Wa Dae on Monday welcomed South Korea’s exemption from U.S. steel tariffs, calling the deal a “perfect win-win” agreement that would further solidify the alliance between the two countries. The U.S. has agreed to exempt South Korea from the 25-percent additional tariffs it plans to impose on steel [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean chipmaker SK hynix Inc. has emerged as a key affiliate of SK Group by making up nearly half of the conglomerates’ market capitalization, industry watchers said Monday. SK hynix, purchased by SK Group exactly six years ago, when the company posted a net loss of 159 billion [...]
SEOUL, March 23 (Korea Bizwire) – Kumho Tire Co.’s union on Friday refused to meet with the chief of Qingdao Doublestar Co. over the Chinese firm’s plan to acquire the Korean tiremaker, raising the possibility of the company being placed under court receivership, the company said. Kumho Tire’s creditors are planning to sell the loss-making [...]