Hyundai Motor Group strides ahead, SsangYong struggles in liquidity crunch

Disuniform global certifications a hurdle for mask companies’ overseas business

Jamon, a dry-cured ham produced in Spain, was named the fastest emerging item on food delivery app Yogiyo last year, thanks largely to the popularity of wine amid the pandemic. The Spanish ham saw a 515 percent year-on-year jump in order volume, enjoying the biggest growth apart from already-beloved items such as fried chicken, pizza and Chinese food, Delivery Hero Korea, the company behind the app, said Thursday. “It appears record-breaking wine sales that caused an increase in home dri

South Korean industrial conglomerate Hyosung Group, strong in its textile and chemical businesses, has named Cho Hyun-sang its new vice-chairman, the company said on Thursday. The move comes nearly four years after Cho was appointed president in 2016. In an announcement of his new role, the company explained the appointment is to strengthen responsible management and proactively respond to the “changing business environment as a result of the prolonged coronavirus pandemic and the fourth

South Korea's industry ministry said Thursday it plans to raise 200 billion won ($179 million) this year to nurture eco-friendly automobiles and other state-of-the-art technologies, in line with the country's New Deal drive announced last year. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it has clinched a memorandum of understanding with a slew of industrial and financial partners, including Hyundai Motor Group. Of the fund, the government plans to chip in 50 billion won, followed by Hyund

KT&G Corp., South Korea's dominant tobacco company, said Thursday its fourth-quarter net profit nearly tripled as exports increased despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Net profit for the three months ended December jumped to 307.71 billion won ($276 million) from 116.83 billion won a year earlier helped by robust overseas sales of tobacco products, the company said in a statement. "The seven-year supply contract signed with a Middle Eastern company early last year and increased exports to

Samsung Electronics Co.'s smartphone sales in the United States rose in the fourth quarter of 2020 on the back of its budget flagship model, a report showed Thursday, despite overall market decline. Samsung and Apple Inc. were the only smartphone makers to post sales growth in the United States in the last three months of 2020, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. The South Korean tech giant saw 5 percent on-year growth in its US smartphone sales in the fourth quarter, while A

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the guilty convictions of dozens of former and current Samsung executives accused of sabotaging labor union activities at a subsidiary company in 2013. The court confirmed a 16-month prison sentence for Kang Kyung-hoon, a vice president at Samsung Electronics Co., on charges of violating labor union laws. It also confirmed the acquittal of Lee Sang-hoon, former chairman of Samsung Electronics' board of directors, citing the illegal means by which evidence w

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Thursday that it has won a 230 billion-won ($206 million) order from an Oceanian company. Under the deal, two 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container carriers will be delivered from the first half of 2023, the company said. Samsung Heavy has bagged orders of five ships -- one liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier and four container carriers -- worth a combined $600 million so far this year. The amount of the orders accounted for 8 percent of its orde

GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., said Thursday it will cut vehicle production by half at one of its three plants from next week due to a lack of semiconductor chips. GM Korea's planned output reduction is in line with US parent GM's decision to cut production at its local and overseas plants. GM Korea said it will take down production at the No. 2 Bupyeong plant, just west of Seoul, to half capacity from Monday. "We are working closely with our supply base to fi

South Korean drugmaker Samsung Bioepis Co. said Thursday sales of its three biosimilar products in Europe climbed nearly 8 percent in 2020 from a year earlier. Combined sales of the three autoimmune biosimilars -- Benepali, Flixabi and Imraldi -- stood at $795.8 million last year, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier, the company said. The company cited an earnings report of its US partner Biogen. Samsung Bioepis is a joint venture between Samsung Biologics -- a biopharmaceutical unit of South K

Coupang said Wednesday it has launched an exclusive pre-order promotion event for its customers ahead of the launch of Xiaomi’s smart watches “Mi Watch” and “Mi Watch Lite” in South Korea. According to the e-commerce giant, the promotion is intended for consumers interested in health and exercise, as the hashtag #WOD, short for “workout of the day,” has been trending lately amid the pandemic. The event will give Coupang customers the chance to get

South Korea on Wednesday gave special approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine Comirnaty, specifically for the batch to be imported through the global COVAX facility. As per this decision, a total of 117,000 doses of Comirnaty will arrive in Korea after mid-February, the country’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said. As the vaccine needs to be administered twice, the COVAX batch can cover around 60,000 people. Authorities have made clear that the initial batch of vaccines are

Kumho Tire Co. and its labor union said Wednesday they have reached a tentative wage deal for the year of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The tentative wage agreement comes after the company's 2,700-strong union threatened to stage a general strike to demand a wage increase and restore the bonus system in a vote held Jan. 28. The company proposed a wage freeze and a cash bonus worth 1 million won ($900) per worker and signed a contract that guarantees job security for current workers. The uni

“Do you have a Styler at home?” Just like global brands such as Jeep, Post-it and Hotchkiss, the name “Styler” has blossomed into a proper noun for a clothing care system in modern society. Invented by South Korea’s LG Electronics, the LG Tromm Styler has innovated a new category in the home appliance market over the past decade and become one of the essential home appliances, along with TVs, refrigerators and washing machines. The development story of Styler