This file photo taken Aug. 1, 2023, shows a port in the southeastern city of Busan. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will extend support for electric vehicles (EVs), secondary batteries and other major industry fields in an effort to boost exports amid signs of a turnaround after a yearlong downturn, the industry ministry said Thursday.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a meeting with relevant ministries and chiefs of major companies, including LG Energy Solution Ltd., SK hynix Inc. and Celltrion Inc., to discuss ways to prop up the country’s key growth engine of exports.
Exports have logged an on-year fall since October last year amid a global economic downturn, but the monthly decline has eased as global demand for South Korean semiconductors has been on a recovery track.
During the meeting, the ministry came up with a plan to push for nine projects in the three sectors of mobility, energy and materials and components, through which it seeks to win US$31.4 billion worth of foreign contracts and sell $26.3 billion worth of goods and services in the overseas market.
The projects are on EVs, secondary batteries, multi-purpose helicopters and robots, wind power equipment, hydrogen fuel cells, oil and gas plants and OLED display items.
Under the plan, the government also vowed to provide domestic firms with legal counseling services and extend various support measures to better protect their intellectual property rights and to expand global sales of South Korean beauty items, food and other cultural contents.
The government also plans to send a delegation to Ukraine within the year to support South Korean companies’ participation in its reconstruction projects.
“We are now standing at a critical juncture in terms of achieving export growth. The government will mobilize all possible capabilities,” Industry Minister Bang Moon-kyu said during the meeting.
The government set this year’s export target at $685 billion, up 0.2 percent from last year’s total, though the finance ministry earlier forecast exports would mark a 4.5 percent on-year decline in 2023.
(Yonhap)
