South Korea's exports jumped 39.7 percent on-year in June to extend their gains to an eighth consecutive month on the back of a recovery in global business activities, which led to stronger demand for chips and automobiles, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments came to $54.8 billion last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports climbed 40.7 percent to $50.3 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $4.44 billion. It marked the 14th consecut

South Korea and Saudi Arabia vowed Wednesday to expand ties in the clean energy sector under their joint vision to seek sustainable development through 2030. Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook met his Saudi counterpart, Khalid Al-Falih, virtually to discuss ways to strengthen the bilateral ties under the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee platform, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The two countries launched the committee in 2017 in line with efforts to broaden their strate

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Wednesday it sold a net $103 million in the first quarter to help ease fluctuations in the local currency market. The BOK began releasing such data in March 2019 to help boost the transparency of its market stabilization steps. A BOK official said market smoothing operations in the first quarter came as the Korean currency weakened against the US dollar. The Korean currency closed at 1,131.8 won against the US dollar on March 31, compared with 1,086.3 won at the e

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki warned Wednesday that the housing market was overvalued, and that a scheduled tightening of loan regulations and a possible interest rate hike could see home prices fall. During a government meeting on the real estate market, Hong urged market participants to refrain from buying homes based on expectations of future price increases. “An inflow of liquidity into the housing market could slow down as the country is set to implement measures to slow the growt

Midsized shipyard STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. said Wednesday that it has signed deals to build 12 ships with Oceanian companies. The vessels include two 10,000-ton petrochemical carriers (PCs), six 50,000-ton PCs and four 115,000-ton oil tankers, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding said. The deal for four oil tankers has an option to build two additional oil tankers, the company said. But the shipbuilder did not reveal the value of the deals, citing confidentiality clauses. The ships wil

A majority of South Korean manufacturers expect their business conditions to improve in the third quarter from three months earlier on a global economic recovery, a poll showed Wednesday. A survey of about 2,400 manufacturing firms put the business sentiment index (BSI) at 103 for the July-September period, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said. The figure is up 4 points from the current quarter and marks the first time in about seven years that the reading has stayed above th

South Korea has been enjoying robust exports of automobiles and chemical products to the European Union over the past 10 years on the back of its free trade agreement (FTA) with the world's single largest economic bloc, data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments of automobiles came to $8.4 billion in 2019, which doubled from $3.3 billion tallied in 2010, according to the data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association. South Korea became the first Asian country to implement an FTA wi

The Bank of Korea (BOK) and state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) will extend their purchasing of corporate bonds, including low-rated debts, and commercial papers to further stabilize bond markets until the end of this year, the central bank said Wednesday. In May last year, the BOK approved an 8 trillion-won ($6.64 billion) loan to a special purpose vehicle, which was set up by the KDB, to buy subprime corporate bonds and commercial papers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The vehicle had been sc

South Korea will begin its annual consultation meetings with global rating agency Fitch Ratings this week over the country's economic conditions, Seoul's finance ministry said Wednesday. The government will hold online meetings with the agency from Wednesday to July 8 to discuss the country's economic situations and its growth outlook. Fitch will hold a series of meetings with officials from the finance ministry, the Bank of Korea, the Ministry of Unification and other institutions. Finance M

New home permits in South Korea swelled nearly 20 percent in the first five months of the year amid rising housing prices, the government said Wednesday. Construction permits issued for new homes stood at 186,743 units in the January-May period, up 19.9 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. New construction permits in the South Korean capital of Seoul spiked 39.6 percent to 30,915 over the cited period. New home permits issued in the capital

South Korea's top economic policymaker said Wednesday excessive demand for home buying could ease amid the central bank's move toward monetary tightening and stricter regulations on household lending. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki warned that housing prices could fall if a severe external economic shock occurs at a time when households have maintained high levels of leverage. "An inflow of liquidity into the housing market could slow down as the country is set to implement measures to slow

Global tech titan Samsung Electronics Co. has ranked first in the number of patents filed in South Korea over the past five years, data showed Wednesday. Samsung registered 19,588 patents with local authorities between 2016 and June 10 this year, the most among local companies, according to the data from corporate tracker CEO Score. The number accounts for 13.8 percent of a combined 141,752 patents filed by 345 companies out of the country's top 500 firms by sales over the cited period. Samsu

South Korea's industrial output bounced back in May, but retail sales fell by the most in 10 months in the latest sign that the recovery of private spending still remains weak amid the pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The industrial output inched up 0.1 percent in May from the previous month, rebounding from a 1.2 percent on-month contraction in April, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. From a year earlier, it rose 7.3 percent. The rebound came as production in the public adm

80% of Koreans to receive relief cash -- except for households with annual salary over W100m

South Korean banks' lending rates edged down in May amid a slight decline in deposit rates, central bank data showed Tuesday. The average interest rate charged on new bank loans came to 2.72 percent in May, down 0.02 percentage point from the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The BOK cut the key interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent in May last year after delivering an emergency rate cut of half a percentage point in March to cushion the impact