The Korean beer maker Oriental Brewery said Wednesday it would lift prices of its beer products by an average annual rate of 7.7 percent starting from March 8.　 The price hike comes as the company seeks to offset higher raw material and packaging costs fueled by COVID-induced supply disruptions. The beer manufacturer said it has seen the global price of barley, the primary ingredient of beer, climb by 33 percent since pre-pandemic levels. The price of aluminum, the core material for packagi

The Korea Herald on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with two local organizations to support a project to build the capacity of young ethnic Koreans residing overseas. The K-Diaspora Project envisages shaping Korean youth in 190 countries – roughly 2 million in total - into global leaders that share an identity anchored in Korean roots. Godowon Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to youth mentoring, and the Blue Tree Foundation, an NGO against school violence, h

The securities company Korea Investment and Securities said Monday it will participate as a joint lead arranger to back PAI Partners’ acquisition of the orange juice brand Tropicana. The Paris-based private-equity firm PAI Partners agreed to buy a majority interest in a portfolio of juice brands, including Tropicana, from PepsiCo last August. Investment banks like Credit Suisse and Bank of America are involved in helping PAI Partners obtain $4.4 billion (5.27 trillion won) in loans neede

Hana Bank said Monday it will sponsor the Korea Paralympic Committee to support the South Korean delegation to the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics. The delegation consists of 32 athletes competing in six sports. 　 The bank‘s partnership with the committee dates back to 2018, when Hana Bank first started sponsoring the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Hana remains the only banking group backing the Korea Paralympic Committee. 　 This recent commitment aligns with the g

Booyoung Group’s Woojung Education and Culture Foundation provided scholarships totaling 350 million won ($292,000) to 89 international students studying in Korea for the first semester of the 2022 academic year. The recipients are from 34 countries including Vietnam, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, and Cambodia. Since 2010, the foundation has granted financial support to Asian, African and Latin American students on a semester basis. Scholarships worth 83 billion won have been gi

Hyundai Engineering & Construction opened a virtual model home for its new Hillstate Lake apartment complex that will be constructed in Songdo, Incheon, the company said Sunday. 　 The virtual tour delivers an immersive experience that allows customers to view a detailed profile of the floorplan. The service is available on the Hillstate Lake official website. 　 The new build marks the fourth apartment complex of the Hillstate village in Songdo Landmark City, where the first three complexes

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian brewing giant and the parent company of South Korea’s largest beer manufacturer Oriental Brewery, said Wednesday that it has won the creative marketer of the year award at the Cannes Lions 2022. Cannes Lions is the world’s largest advertising awards festival. Since 1992, the top honor has been awarded to companies as prominent as Apple, Coca Cola, Google, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft, for demonstrating creative excellence. This year, the honor

ATKO planning, a Korea-based sustainable leather manufacturer, said Wednesday it has supplied recycled leather to Hyundai Transys’ future mobility seat concept, which was unveiled at the Lineapelle International Leather Fair held in Milan this month. The Lineapelle leather show is the largest of the kind and lays out the future vision of the automotive industry. This year, the trade show was held under the theme “Shift to Regenerative Mobility”, latching onto the global trend

South Korean project management company HanmiGlobal said Wednesday it has acquired Tarr Whitman Group, a Seattle-based construction support consulting firm, to further expand its business to the US market. TWG will operate as a business unit within Otak, another US subsidiary of HanmiGlobal, and continue to focus on project control services for Otak and TWG clients. Following an integration of the two firms’ human resources, IT, and finance systems, HanmiGlobal hopes to serve a larger cl

SK ecoplant said Tuesday it has acquired TES, a Singapore-based electronic waste recycling company, for $1 billion as part of efforts to expand its presence in the burgeoning waste management market. The construction arm of SK Group said it signed a deal to buy a 100 percent stake in TES from Navis Capital Partners, a private equity firm, in Singapore on Monday. TES supplies waste management solutions for electronic devices and components to major IT equipment manufacturers. Its services inc

Posco Group said Monday that it will launch a new holding firm in March with an aim to improve the sustainability of its core steelmaking business amid the global transition to a low-carbon economy. Following shareholders’ approval of the holding company structure plans, the group will be split off into two entities -- Posco Holdings, the new holding company, and Posco, the steelmaking unit wholly owned by the holding firm. The holding company will nurture new growth engine businesses a

Shinsegae International will launch a limited-edition electric bike in collaboration with Super73, US-based electric motorbike manufacturer. By limited edition, they mean only two in the world. The company‘s signature gorilla character JRilla, designed after Shinsegae heir Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin, is the bike‘s mascot. The product even has its own narrative: JRilla, originally from Mars, opted for an electric bike in favor of both the environment and style while navigating h

Zackdang, operator of beauty video platform Zamface, said Wednesday it raised 4.5 billion won ($3.76 million) from Hi Investment Partners and Daesung Private Equity in January. With the fresh investment, the company’s cumulative investment has reached 11 billion won. Zamface saw its number of cumulative subscribers surpass 1.8 million in only 2 1/2 years since its launch in January 2019. Millennial- and Generation Z-females take up the lion’s share, or 94 percent, of its user base,

Coway posted 945.9 billion won ($789 million) of sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 with an operating income of 139.2 billion won, the company said Thursday. The firm also logged 3.66 trillion won in 2021 sales, logging a 13.2 percent growth year-on-year. Operating income was 640.2 billion won and net income 465.5 billion won, each up 5.6 percent and 15 percent.　 The company‘s global outposts saw a yearly revenue of 1.21 trillion won last year and 301.6 billion won in the fourth quarter

Oriental Brewery (OB), Korea’s largest beer maker, won the grand prize at the 2021 Korea Brand Awards for its marketing strategy that added sentimental elements to soothe customers hit by the pandemic. The award, overseen by the Korean Marketing Association, recognizes companies that put “consumer value” at the forefront of brand management. The key to OB’s marketing strategy was “clicking with” consumers, stressed the beer manufacturer. While beer advertisem

Global sales of Orion’s signature snack Choco Pie reached 500 billion won ($417 million) in 2021, logging an 8.8 percent growth year-on-year, according to the Korean confectionery maker on Wednesday. This means around 3,400 million individual packets of Choco Pie were sold worldwide, which would cover more than five laps around the Earth when lined up, said the company. Choco Pie’s success overseas is thanks to the company’s efforts to tailor the product to suit each specifi

Lotte Members, the membership service for Lotte Group companies, said Tuesday it has seen a 23 percent surge in transactions for luxury goods since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a study based on transaction data of its L.Pay mobile payment system and L.Point membership points, sales of luxury goods in 2020 and 2021 increased 23 percent compared to the same figures from 2018 ad 2019. Among age groups, consumers in their 20s showed the highest 70.1 percent increase in lux

McDonald’s Korea announced Thursday it will raise prices of some 30 food items by an average of 2.8 percent starting from Feb. 17, in line with other fast food chains that have carried out price hikes recently. Under the new scheme, the price of the Bulgogi Burger will increase from 2,200 won to 2,300 won ($1.84 to $1.92), while a small Americano coffee will be priced at 1,900 won, up from 1,700 won. Other popular combo meals are also expected to see increases of 200 won to 300 won. 

McDonald‘s is bringing its fan-favorite Spicy Chicken McNuggets to Korea for a limited time, the company in Seoul said last week. Seasoned with cayenne and chili pepper, the spicy version of the iconic menu item created a huge buzz in the US when released as a limited time offer in 2020. The fast food giant is hoping to further capture the Korean palate, which is characterized by a love for spice. The Spicy McNuggets are available for a limited time only from  Feb. 4 to early May. F

The building materials company LX Hausys said Wednesday that it showcased its latest collection of engineered stone and artificial marble at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Orlando, Florida, which began Tuesday and concludes Thursday. The company’s outing to North America’s largest jamboree for kitchen and bath brands signals its ambitions to further tap into the lucrative North American market.  The Calacatta Collection fashioned from Viatera, an engineered stone surface