South Koreans bought $600 million worth of real estate overseas last year mostly for investment purposes, a report showed Thursday. The transaction volume of foreign real estate bought by Koreans surged on-year by 53.8 percent to $600 million, according to a report from the Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Jin Sum-mi. The report, which was based on data from the Finance Ministry and National Tax Service, said individuals bought 2,404 properties, while companies purchased 51 in the cited per

Industry Oct. 13, 2022

Christopher Koo, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, has called for the US to allow at least a three-year delay in implementing a US bill on tax benefits for electric vehicles that is highly disadvantageous for Korean carmakers exporting EVs there. Koo met with US Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia on Tuesday (US time) to deliver KITA's position on the matter. KITA, one of the largest trade lobbies in Korea, represents some 2,000 firms. “Koo asked the senator to consider dela

Industry Oct. 12, 2022

A study has found that heated tobacco product Glo contained less toxicants than traditional cigarettes, and could help reduce potential harm of smoking-related diseases, the Seoul branch of its manufacturer BAT Group said Tuesday. “Our recent one-year clinical trial found that our flagship heated tobacco product Glo showed 90-95 percent less toxicants contained in aerosol compared to cigarette smoke,” said Sharon Goodall, head of Regulatory Science at BAT Group, during a press conf

Consumer Oct. 11, 2022

With the Korean won falling sharply against the US dollar, cross-border shopping on US platforms has become less attractive to Korean shoppers in a peak season that includes Black Friday in the US, sources said Monday. According to Statistics Korea data, transaction volume of cross-border shopping from the country to the US increased on-year by a mere 6.4 percent to 512.3 billion won ($358.9 million) in second quarter. Last year, the figure had spiked 25.7 percent compared to 2020. Noting that l

Consumer Oct. 10, 2022

Korean duty-free shops, hit hard by protracted COVID-19 lockdowns in China, are seeking to reduce their reliance on Chinese sales, turning their eyes to alternative markets like Southeast Asia. Before the pandemic, China’s deep-pocketed tourists and resellers used to be their key revenue sources that made up more than 80 percent of their sales. With the resumption of international travel around the world, local retailers, especially the top two Lotte and Shinsegae, had pinned high hopes

Consumer Oct. 7, 2022

Hanwha Galleria, the retail arm of Hanwha Solutions, will open the first branch of US fast food chain Five Guys in Seoul early next year, the company said Thursday, a day after its executive publicized it through his personal social media account. On Wednesday, Kim Dong-sun, head of strategic management at Hanwha Galleria, uploaded a photo of himself on Instagram shaking hands with William Peecher, director of international expansion at Five Guys Enterprise, with a hashtag that translates to &ld

Consumer Oct. 6, 2022

Hyundai Department Store said Wednesday it would compensate staff and partner companies suffering from a business void at Daejeon Hyundai Premium Outlet that caught fire last week that left seven deaths. The company will give 2.5 million won-3.5 million won ($1,760-$2,470) to around 1,000 managers and salespeople whose work has been suspended due to the post-fire shutdown. Refusing to disclose the exact number of staff and managers, a Hyundai Department Store official said “we will come up

Consumer Oct. 5, 2022

  As time spent at home increased during the coronavirus pandemic, domestic sales of Korean instant noodles surged to 1.3 trillion won ($917 million) as of August, data showed Wednesday. According to data from market tracker Nielsen IQ Korea, combined sales of four local ramen makers -- Nongshim, Samyang, Ottogi and Paldo -- jumped 4.6 percent from last year’s 1.2 trillion won between January and August. In terms of market share, Nongshim sat atop with 55.7 percent, followed by Ottogi

Consumer Oct. 5, 2022

  As Korea transitions to the endemic stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the online-focused retail industry is shifting toward offline stores to enhance customer experience, a report showed Tuesday. Although the vacancy rate rose in commercial districts during the pandemic, retail brands are eyeing prime spaces to open pop-up or flagship stores, according to a report from commercial real estate platform Cushman & Wakefield Korea. For instance, Apple opened its second store in a new buildin

Consumer Oct. 4, 2022

South Korean grandparents gifted their grandchildren aged one or under around 99.1 billion won ($68.8 million) last year, a recent report showed Monday. According to a report based on data from the National Tax Service, the total amount of financial gifts transferred to children up to a year old from their grandparents last year jumped approximately threefold compared to 2020. The case where grandparents who gift financial assets to grandchildren, those who are more than one generation below tha

Industry Oct. 3, 2022

South Korean food giant SPC Group said Sunday its coffeehouse-to-bakery brand Paris Baguette has ranked 25th among the best franchise brands evaluated by the US-based magazine Franchise Times. According to the Franchise Times Top 500, an annual ranking of the largest franchise brands by sales in the US, Paris Baguette's ranking jumped 13 spots from last year's 38th. Its ranking is the highest among Korean brands in the list this year. “Our 77 years of baking know-how, efficient bakery mana

Consumer Oct. 3, 2022

South Korean retail-to-chemical giant Lotte Group said Thursday its overseas investment has exceeded 7 trillion won ($4.9 billion) this year. So far, the largest overseas project is Lotte Chemical’s Line Project, a $3.9 billion megasized petrochemicals production complex in Banten, Indonesia. It aims to produce 1 million metric tons of ethylene, 520,000 tons of propylene, 250,000 tons of polypropylene and other petrochemical products by 2025. The chemicals unit also plans to build its f

Consumer Sept. 29, 2022

With fast-growing interest in eco-friendly lifestyles, South Korean food companies are expanding plant-based menu items and restaurants to cater to the growing global vegan population of some 180 million. Nongshim, the country’s leading instant noodle maker, said Thursday it has launched eight kinds of plant-based "cup rice" (rice bowl with toppings), and porridge, in partnership with vegan restaurant Doosoogobang. Instead of spicy meat, cup rice comes with toppings such as na

Consumer Sept. 28, 2022

Global messaging app provider Line Corp. said Tuesday that Line Man Wongnai, its delivery platform operated in Thailand, has raised $265 million in a funding round led by Line Corp. and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC. Other investors in the Series B funding include BRV Capital Management, PTT Oil and Retail Business Public Co., Bualuang Ventures and Taiwan Mobile. With the new investment, Line Man Wongnai's value topped $1 billion, becoming Thailand's largest tech startup unicorn. The

Consumer Sept. 27, 2022

Over the last few years, pandemic-triggered market volatility has provided great business opportunities for South Korean startups. But in the face of a deteriorating market outlook driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and inflation, only a handful of startups with strong business portfolios could keep their title as “the next unicorn” with a corporate value of some $1 billion or more. RSquare, a commercial real estate platform, said its sales had surged on-year by 61 percent to 1

Industry Sept. 26, 2022