South Korea's alcohol imports fell for the first time in 10 years in 2019 amid a boycott of Japanese beer due to a bilateral trade row, data showed Monday. South Korea's liquor imports came to 466,000 kiloliters in 2019, down 6 percent from the previous year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service and the local alcohol industry. It represents the first on-year decrease since 2009, shortly after the global financial crisis. Last year's decline was attributed mainly to a fall in i

Since the election of Joe Biden as the US president earlier this month, South Korean investors have rushed to purchase stocks of electric vehicle producers in the US that are expected to gather momentum during the new presidency, data showed Sunday. From Nov. 9 to 13, after Biden’s victory started becoming clear, domestic investors bought a combined $96.63 million worth of stocks for electric vehicle makers, including Xpeng Motors and Tesla. Among the EV companies and other US stocks i

Shinhan Bank said Sunday said it would collaborate with Microsoft Korea in building and operating its new research and development platform. On Friday, the two companies signed a strategic partnership for Shinhan’s Expace -- a combination of “experience” and “space” -- which will allow the bank’s digital team to work with fintech companies, startups and other innovative firms to develop and test cutting-edge financial services and technology. Expace’s

Financial conglomerate aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, bolstering investment in renewable energy

Korean brokerage firm Mirae Asset Daewoo has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the ninth consecutive year in recognition of its sustainable efforts for environmental, social and governance, or ESG, causes, the company said Sunday. The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, the longest-running global sustainability benchmark, provides information about companies’ sustainable business practices as reflected in their investment portfolios. Launched in 1999, it curr

South Korea’s sole bourse operator Korea Exchange and S&P Dow Jones Indices are set to launch a new index Monday that gauges the contributions of companies in reducing carbon emissions in line with the Moon Jae-in administration’s “Green New Deal” initiative, one of the key pillars of its economic stimulus package, the officials said Sunday. The KRX/S&P Carbon Efficiency Green New Deal Index aims to persuade local companies to put greater effort into cutting carb

Investors say COVID-19 has helped them develop an eye for distressed assets, suitable partners

South Korea‘s finance minister highlighted the need to promote free trade under multilateral regimes, while expressing support for assistance to debt-ridden developing economies during a G-20 meeting, his ministry said Saturday. “We need to revitalize global trade through multilateral trade systems,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said during the Extraordinary G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting held virtually on Friday. “Trade regulations ca

South Korea's trade commission on Friday made a preliminary decision to extend anti-dumping tariffs on stainless steel bars from a handful of nations for another three years. Under the decision, the commission will request that the finance ministry slap tariffs of 3.51 percent to 15.39 percent on imported stainless steel bars from Japan, India and Spain, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Stainless steel bars are utilized in making auto parts, medical instruments, constru

South Korean stocks closed at a nearly two-year high Friday on advances in chipmakers, backed by massive foreign buying amid the resurgence of the new coronavirus around the globe. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 18.25 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 2,493.87 points. Trading volume was high at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 16.8 trillion won ($15.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 530 to 299. "Tod

Hanwha Life Insurance‘s third-quarter operating income surged by 134.6 percent on-year to 206.9 billion won ($185.5 million), mainly due to a lower loss ratio, the company said Friday. An increase in sales of Hanwha Life‘s guaranteed products has reduced its ratio of insurance claims to premiums, officials said.  The company’s third-quarter earnings was also driven by a decline in the insurer’s reserves set up to cover claims of variable life insurance products,

South Korea‘s vice finance minister said Friday the government will stabilize the cost to make kimchi by expanding supplies of major vegetables and ingredients.  “We are planning to extend the supply of vegetables in the market by employing either the government’s hoarded stocks for gimjang or those already purchased by local companies from agricultural farms under contract,” Kim Yong-beom, first vice minister of finance, said in a meeting with related officials to

Stocks of Asiana Airlines’s key affiliates sharply rose Friday following news report saying Korea’s Hanjin Group, parent of the nation’s largest airline Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, is in talks with the state-run Korea Development Bank to acquire the cash-strapped airline.  Shares of Asiana Airlines, the country’s No. 2 carrier, rose by 19.1 percent to 4,745 won ($4.25) in the early morning trading session, while its low-cost carrier unit Air Busan jumped 16.1 percent t

Financial authorities will tighten rules on unsecured loans from later this month, as they seek to prevent people from borrowing excessively to buy homes or invest in stocks, officials said Friday. Effective Nov. 30, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) will stiffen loan limits for a home buyer to 40 percent of a property's value if the buyer's annual income exceeds 80 million won ($71,748) and holds unsecured loans worth more than 100 million won. If a person buys a home in a regulated a

South Korea's money supply continued to grow quickly in September as firms rushed to secure funds amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Friday. The country's M2 stood at 3,115.8 trillion won ($2.8 trillion) as of end-September, up 0.5 percent from August, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 surged 9.2 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply that count