Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp. (aT) announced on July 7 that it has opened a branch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.The Kuala Lumpur branch is aT’s fifth branch in Southeast Asia after those in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.In particular, Malaysia is a country aT is focusing on as it inte
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. She can be reached at inhae.ji@shinhan.com. -- Ed. Confidence in earnings recoveryParadise, Grand Korea Leisure, Hana Tour Service, and Modetour Network all announced their earnings results for June earlier than usual. We believe the speedy settle
South Korean oil refining companies’ January-to-May petroleum product exports more than doubled year on year, led by high international oil prices. Especially, the May exports hit an all-time high.Specifically, SK Energy, GS Caltex, S-Oil and Hyundai Oilbank exported US$24.265 billion of petroleum p
The oil refining margin, a key productivity indicator in the oil refining industry, reached a new high with petroleum product prices rising despite falling international oil prices.From June 20 to 24, the average Dubai-Singapore gross refining margin rose by US$5.09 to US$29.5 per barrel. For refere
The U.S. and South Korean governments are expected to initiate IPEF-related negotiations in August. The anti-China economic framework is equivalent to 32.3 percent of the total population of the world and 40.9 percent of the global total GDP.The framework was proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden in
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at kyuha.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Asian investors are keenly focused on the degree of smartphone shipment slowdown, the timing of industry recovery, and the future direction of the XR market. In addition to offering our opinions o
Korea’s trade deficit, which started in March of this year, is highly likely to continue in June. Korea is expected to post the largest-ever semi-annual trade deficit in the first half of this year.According to the Korea Customs Service, Korea's export amount (provisional value on customs cleara
KB Kookmin Bank announced on June 20 that it has successfully issued 500 million euros in global covered bonds with 3.5-year maturity.It marked the bank’s third issuance of euro-denominated covered bonds, following the first one in July 2020 and the second one in October 2021. The issuance rate was
SPC Group's bakery brand Paris Baguette announced on June 20 that it will enter the Malaysian market, eyeing the halal market in the Southeast Asian country.The group broke ground for a halal-certified bakery factory in Johor Bahru, Malaysia's second-largest city, and at the same time, estab
Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) announced on June 15 that it signed an LNG trading business agreement with TotalEnergies, a global energy company headquartered in France, to lay the foundation for long-term strategic cooperation.The signing ceremony was held in Singapore, where TotalEnergies Gas and Power A
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on June 15 that South Korea came in 27th out of 63 countries in the national competitiveness assessment of the IMD. In the assessment that started in 1989, South Korea came in 41st in 1999, 22nd in 2011 to 2013, and 23rd in 2021. This year, South Korea s
Goldman Sachs has revised up its forecast for Bank of Korea’s terminal policy rate to 2.75 percent from 2.5 percent previously and brought forward the peak timing to November from May 2023, on accelerated Fed tightening, higher oil prices and a recent weakening of the Korean won against the U.S. dol
The number of overseas affiliates set up by Korean conglomerates soared in the United States, but fell in China last year.As of the end of May this year, the 76 Korean business groups with assets exceeding 5 trillion won were practically controlling 5,287 subsidiaries in 123 overseas countries, the
Orchard Global Asset Management, a U.S. alternative asset management company, announced on June 14 that Danny Jeon has joined the firm as executive director, head of client solutions—Korea and head of the firm’s newly opened liaison office in Seoul, South Korea. Jeon will help further accelerate Orc
Alipay Singapore Holdings, the second-largest shareholder in KakaoPay, sold five million KakaoPay shares through a block deal on June 7. The amount is 9.8 percent of Alipay’s stake in KakaoPay and 3.77 percent of the total KakaoPay shares.Alipay procured 470 billion won or so by disposing of the sha
KB Financial Group announced on June 10 that its chairman Yoon Jong-kyu became an Asia-Pacific advisor in the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).The GFANZ was set up in April last year for carbon reduction and climate change response in the financial industry. Its Asia-Pacific office an
The New Zealand Wine Festivals are back after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Anticipation in Korea’s two biggest cities is increasing to sample premium New Zealand vintages – in line with the rapid growth in popularity of New Zealand wine in Korea.“We are delighted that the Kiwi Chamber is a
LG Display will receive 120 billion won in damages from Sharp of Japan, which was found to have violated a patent contract.According to LG Display, Sharp said in a public disclosure that it had decided to accept the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC)’s ruling that Sharp pays 11.75 bil
SK ecoplant announced on May 25 that TES, a global player in electronic waste recycling which was acquired by SK ecoplant in February, signed an MOU with Mintit, a Korean company that collects used mobile phones using an AI-based automated teller machine (ATM) platform, to jointly promote the mobile
Huawei held the “Fast, Reliable, and Green Data Center” forum during the Huawei APAC Digital Innovation Conference 2022, which was held on May 19-20 in Singapore.The forum focused on how enterprises can build new generation data centers in the digital economy to cope with several challenges, such as