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...

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...

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...

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...

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Thursday it is ramping up efforts to facilitate the global expansion of small- and mid-sized firms by bolstering distribution and logistics support in overseas markets. The new plans were briefed during an emergency meeting of economy-related ministers earlier in the day. The ministry’s ultimate goal is raising the export contribution of SMEs from last yea...

Celltrion Healthcare, the marketing unit of South Korean drug developer Celltrion, announced Thursday that it has expanded its product portfolio with the recent launch of its cancer-fighting biosimilar Vegzelma in Japan. Vegzelma is a biosimilar referencing Bevacizumab, which is sold under the brand name Avastin. In September of last year, the drug received sales approval from the Japanese Minis...

Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it has won the ISO 22301 certification, a global recognition for crisis preparedness at its chip-manufacturing complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The ISO certification, awarded by the British Standards Institution, is the international standard for business continuity management system or BCMS, representing the highest level of commitment to business c...

South Korean telecommunications giant KT Corp. said Thursday it has signed a partnership deal with the Mongolian government to secure a stable supply of some 80 kinds of mineral resources, including rare earth elements. KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo signed the memorandum of understanding on mineral resources with Ganbaatar Jambal, Mongolia's Mining and Heavy Industry Minister, in Ulaanbaatar on the sidelin...

Posco Chemical Co., a major South Korean producer of secondary battery materials, said Thursday it has obtained government approval for the export of its technologies related to producing cathodes, a key component used in electric vehicle cells. The decision was made earlier this month by the private-public committee handling industrial technology protection under the Ministry of Trade, Industry...