Ulsan Port Authority (UPA) said on March 24 that the ratio of waiting ships at the Port of Ulsan was 3.8% in 2012. This ratio is a 1.3% point decrease from 5.11% in 2011. It is lower than the national average 4.0%, too.A total of 12,348 ocean-going ships arrived at the Port of Ulsan last year, and 4

It has been pointed out that the four largest shipping companies in Korea -- Hyundai Merchant Marine, Hanjin Shipping, SK Shipping and STX Pan Ocean -- need to further diversify their financing sources for an improved financial structure with their corporate bonds worth two trillion won combined sch

Korea’s foreign reserves diminished in 14 months due to the recent foreign exchange market situations.According to the report on the nation’s foreign reserves released by Bank of Korea (BOK) on March 6, Korea had US$372.4 billion of foreign reserves as of the end of February 2013, US$1.51 billion le

A new report predicted that if the strong won-weak yen trend continues further, it will significantly dampen Korea’s growth for this year. The report even warned of negative growth. The report entitled, “Ripple Effects of a Strong Won and a Weak Yen and Countermeasures,” authored by researchers incl

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) opposed KB Financial Holdings’ appointment of outside directors for the failure of the acquisition of ING Life Insurance and their close connection to the government. Under the circumstances, the appointment is unlikely to be made at the g

Exports from Korea’s information technology sector have been rising for six consecutive months.The Ministry of Knowledge and Economy (MKE) said on March 7 that the country’s IT exports were up 1.9% to US$11.85 billion, imports down 10.4% to US$5.49 billion, leading to a trade surplus of US$6.36 bill

GS E&C announced on March 7 that after winning the contract in 2010, the company had successfully produced 120 modules required for the project at Sungchang plant, Mokpo, South Cholla Province, and shipped them in Mokpo Harbor.The project involves the construction of a central processing facility an

Chinese funds are rapidly flowing into the Korean stock market these days to draw the attention of many. Securities analysts are saying that the investment is being made by funds run by Chinese asset management companies.According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Chinese investors have recorded

The Woori Finance Research Institute announced on March 5 that the interest coverage ratio (ICR) is below one for three consecutive years for 15% of 1,200 listed companies in Korea, 228 being major corporations and the others small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), as of the end of the third quarter o

It has been found that the underground economy of Korea reached 290 trillion won in size last year, no less than 23% of the national nominal GDP.On March 3, the Hyundai Research Institute published a report titled “How to Deal with Underground Economy,” pointing out that Korea’s ratio of owner opera

Shin Je-yun, who has been nominated as the chairman of the Financial Services Commission, suggested that a complete overhaul is necessary for the Woori Financial Group after a series of failed attempts at its disposal. “The Woori Financial Group has been an unattended company since the injection of

One of the other reasons for the great interest is the abundant cash liquidity of the corporations, which amounts to 64 trillion won combined as of the end of Q3, 2012. They have increased their cash reserves continuously since the American financial crisis of 2008 to deal with domestic and global u

Korea Capital Market Institute manager Park Yong-lin, in the meantime, attributed the increasing interest in cross-border M&A to the growth limit those companies have reached in the domestic market. “Nowadays, the Korean economy is considered to have entered a low growth phase whereas the United Sta

Major Korean corporations are speeding up the merger and acquisition of foreign companies with the global economy showing some signs of recovery and conditions favorable for M&A being formed amid the strong won and low interest trends.These days, the Korean office of Permira, one of the largest priv

The League of Legends is increasing its popularity in the Korean market to pose concerns to local online game developers.According to research firm Gametrics, the League of Legends, developed by US-based Riot Games, has ranked first for 31 consecutive weeks in terms of the number of users playing ga

The Korea Railroad Corporation asked for a capital increase by 1.4 trillion won to private investors for the normalization of the project for Yongsan International Business District development. News sources are saying that it asked for help to subsidiaries of the Samsung Group, including Samsung C&

It is expected that venture investment funds worth a combined total of 1.4 trillion won will be raised this year and 1.3 trillion of it will be spent on new investments.Neoplux vice chairman and Korea Venture Capital Association chairman Lee Jong-gap, who was recently elected to serve consecutive te

Domestic chemical players will embark on efforts to catch up with the dominant Japanese firm in the market for indium tin oxide (ITO) film, a core component of the touch panel. A case in point is LG Chem which poured money into expanding its plant. Nitto Denko grabs some 90 percent of global market.

Korean automakers are dealing with global trade protectionism by means of CKD, or complete knock down, export. It is characterized by exporting semi knock down products and assembling them in each local market before selling.According to industry sources, Korean automobile manufacturers’ CKD exports

Korea’s leading automobile parts supplier Mando announced on February 21 that it will merge its two Indian subsidiaries Mando India Steering (MIS) and Mando India Limited (MIL) to a new company Mando Automotive India Limited as of April 1, in a bid to more actively explore the Indian automobile part