SEOUL: Declining global dollar demand and local exporters lent some support to the South Korean won <KRW=> early on Thursday after it was pushed to a two-month low in the previous session. The won <KRW=KFTC> was quoted at 1,140.8 per dollar as of 0241 GMT, up 0.3 percent from Wednesday’s onshore close. “We’re seeing steady dollar sales from local exporters ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s exports jumped 24.4 percent in the first 20 days of June from a year earlier on robust overseas demand for semiconductors and ships, customs data showed Wednesday. Total outbound shipments reached $31.9 billion in the June 1-20 period, up from $25.7 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to numbers compiled by the Korea Customs ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea is enjoying strong growth in exports to China, with the latest data for May showing a 7.5% increase on the year. So does this mean the two countries have overcome their disagreement over Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. missile defense system? A closer look at trade and tourism data offers an answer: Not exactly. The jump in ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s Iranian crude oil imports dropped in May to their lowest in eight months as refiners bought less of the Middle Eastern nation’s condensate, while Tehran struggled to maintain shipment volumes after exhausting stocks stored on tankers. South Korea’s Iranian crude intake fell 18.7 percent in May from a year ago to 1.02 million tonnes, or 242,058 barrels ... Read More »
SEOUL: Eggs imported from Thailand will arrive in South Korea next week, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday, as the government seeks to contain rising prices amid the latest bird flu outbreak. Some 2 million eggs imported by a local company will arrive in South Korea via ship sometime between next Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s import of camping gear increased nearly 20 percent on-year during the first four months of 2017 thanks to increasing interest in outdoor activities, government data showed. South Korea imported US$27.73 million worth of camping gear during the January-April period, up 19 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and ... Read More »
PYONGYANG: Despite strong international sanctions against North Korea, the area around the Amnok (Yalu) River separating China’s Liaoning Province Dandong City from North Korea’s North Pyongan Province is rife with smuggling activity. Trading companies are taking the lead in earning foreign currency with the tacit consent of border guards, who receive bribes in return. Since May last year, many North ... Read More »
SEOUL: Korea launched a $10 billion stimulus package to create jobs and bolster welfare programmes in the country faced with slow growth and ageing population. The 11.2-trillion won plan is the first since Moon Jae-In was elected president of Asia’s fourth-largest economy last month and the finance ministry said it will be mostly funded by tax revenue rather than issuing ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s shipbuilders are expected to recover this year after suffering from a global industry wide slump in 2016, observers here said Sunday. Industry watchers said Samsung Heavy Industries Co. clinched deals worth US$4.8 billion coming into this year, which accounts for 74 percent of its annual target of $6.5 billion. The latest performance marks a sharp turnaround from ... Read More »
SEOUL: Dozens of Korean citizens were caught smuggling 2,348 kilograms of gold hidden in their “private parts,” the Korea Customs Service (KCS) said on Tuesday. It was the nation’s biggest smuggling bust. Fifty-one people, including several housewives, were apprehended at Incheon International Airport early last month. The smuggling had been happening for about two years. Male smugglers were hiding five ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s exports kept up growth streak for seven months in a row with the volume adding 3.4 percent from a year-ago period to $25.4 billion in the first 20 days this month due to robust shipments of electronics components and petrochemical products and their higher selling value, Korea Customs Service data showed. Although monthly data would likely rack ... Read More »
SEOUL: The South Korean central bank, Bank of Korea, is likely to keep its official bank rate on hold next week. According to a Scotiabank research report, the central bank will maintain the key rate at 1.25 percent during its meeting. According to a median forecast in a recent Bloomberg poll, the interest rate is unlikely to change until the ... Read More »
SEOUL: Audi Volkswagen Korea on May 18 said it has tapped two technical compliance directors in anticipation of restarting business in the country following the diesel scandal that halted sales of most of its cars last year. The German automaker named Johann Hegel and Martin Bahr as technical compliance directors of the Korean unit, starting on May 1. The appointment ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s oil imports from Iran fell nearly 38 percent in April from the month before as Tehran struggled to maintain supply after clearing crude stored on ships. South Korea, one of Iran’s main Asian customers, imported 1.41 million tonnes of Iranian crude in April, or 344,933 barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Monday. That was down ... Read More »
SEOUL: After a full year of operating its three SME retail units at Incheon International Airport, SM Duty Free reported strong sales growth, mainly driven by South Korean customers. SM Duty Free recorded sales worth US$90m at Incheon Airport in 2016, exceeding original expectations. The company is looking for double- digit sales growth at Incheon in 2017, despite the anticipated ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea and China will both be hurt economically by the fallout caused by the deployment of the advanced U.S. missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula, a local think tank said Wednesday. According to the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI), Beijing’s retaliation against Seoul’s decision to station a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here could cost Asia’s ... Read More »
SEOUL: The three-year-old free trade agreement with Vietnam will allow South Korean companies to further increase their auto, steel and petrochemical exports on tax removal or cuts, customs experts said Thursday. In a seminar held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in central Seoul, customs experts called on Korean companies to aggressively take advantage of tariff benefits ... Read More »
SEJONG: The amount of fruit imported by South Korea reached record high levels last year on growing demand for dietary diversity, customs data showed Saturday. A total of 863,663 tons of fruit were imported in 2016, up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service. It surpass the earlier annual record of ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s top tax official and his Indian counterpart agreed to avoid double taxation between the two countries, the government said Wednesday. National Tax Service chief Lim Hwan-soo and India’s Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia also agreed to create stable tax conditions for investments during their meeting in Seoul, according to the NTS. The bilateral double taxation avoidance pact was ... Read More »
SEOUL: South Korea’s economic growth likely accelerated at a sharper pace in the first three months of the year than the previous quarter as exports and capital investment tracked a recovery in the global economy. The local economy is expected to have expanded by a median 0.7 percent over January-March in seasonally adjusted terms from the previous quarter, according to ... Read More »
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