South Korea’s largest beer maker Oriental Brewery led last year’s domestic beer market, as the spirits market began to see signs of recovery after years of pandemic disruptions. During the January to November period last year, OB topped beer sales here with a whopping 53.7 percent market share, the firm said in a Jan. 19 press release. During the summer season, when competition in the market is...

SsangYong, Renault, GM fight to defend 10% market share; South Korea still remains as ‘test bed’ for global carmakers, experts say

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics has hired two experts from Swedish telco Ericsson to reinforce its network business. According to industry sources on Sunday, Samsung recently established a task force under its network business division to oversee a new business strategy. For the task force chief, the company hired Henrik Jansson, formerly the strategic sourcing manager for Ericsson. ...

South Korea's imports of wine rose 3.8 percent in 2022 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, as more people enjoyed consuming alcoholic beverages at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The total value of wine imported by South Korea last year came to $581.2 million, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service, after hovering above the $500 million level for the first time in 2021...

Korean contract manufacturer Samsung Biologics' earnings in 2022 hit all-time high, mainly because its biopharmaceutical unit was included in the consolidated financial result after a full acquisition early in the year. Its sales almost doubled to 3 trillion won ($2.4 billion) from 1.56 trillion won in 2021, according to its regulatory filing on Friday. It logged 983.6 billion won in operating p...

S. Korean automaker sets target to sell 3.2m units worldwide in 2023

LG Electronics said Friday its operating earnings for the fourth quarter dipped more than 90 percent from a year earlier on slumping demand for home appliances coupled with global economic difficulties. The consumer electronics giant reported an operating profit of 69.3 billion won ($56.1 million) for the October-December period, down 90.7 percent from the same period a year prior, the regulator...

KT&G, South Korea's dominant tobacco and ginseng company, rolled out an aggressive mid-term business plan Friday to bolster its investment and sales in an apparent move to fend off a campaign launched by a Singapore-based activist fund. Under the plan, the company will invest a total of 3.9 trillion won ($3.1 billion) until 2027 with it businesses focused three areas -- next generation tobacco a...

Battery maker on track to qualify for US Inflation Reduction Act’s EV incentives

Samyang Foods on Thursday opened a popup store to promote its new premium dried noodle brand in Seoul. The noodle boutique, called Salon de Cootique, is set up at the space LES601 Seongsu in Seongsu-dong, and runs until Feb. 5, it said in a statement. In December last year, the firm launched a new premium dried noodle brand, Cootique -- a portmanteau of “cook” and “boutique.” The brand is dedic...

Carmaker turns to EV lease market in US to cope with subsidy cuts

Concerns over government involvement in financial industry persist

South Korean steel giant Posco has set up a task force to overcome economic difficulties. Vice Chairman Kim Hak-dong will spearhead the task force, according to industry sources, Thursday. The task force is expected to focus on reducing costs spent on procuring raw materials, increasing profitability and maximizing business liquidity on the backdrop of difficulties in the global economy. In an ...

Agreement marks 1st collaboration between solar giant, ICT behemoth for clean energy

South Korean IT solutions provider Samsung SDS logged a record sales of 17.2 trillion won ($14 billion) in 2022 that was driven by an expansion in its cloud business, the firm said Thursday. In a regulatory filing, the company said its annual sales in 2022 saw a growth of 26 percent when compared to the previous year. It also posted an operating profit of 916.1 billion won. In the fourth quarte...