TITLE : Business News
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■ FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
▶ MERCK TO BUILDNEW ASIA PACIFIC BIOPROCESSING CENTER IN S. KOREA
Merck LifeScience, a global pharmaceuticalcompany headquartered in Germany, is set toinvest hundreds of billions of won to build abiopharmaceutical production base in Daejeon,some 140 kilometers south of Seoul.S. Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry andEnergy and Daejeon City signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Merck onMay 3 to build a new Asia-Pacific bioprocessing center in Daejeon.The scale of Merck’s investment has not beendisclosed in detail, but industry insiders expectit to reach hundreds of billions of won. TheGerman-based pharmaceutical company plansto finalize the investment within the year and ifconstruction starts immediately, the facility isexpected to be operational as early as 2025.
▶SIX U.S. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY FIRMS ANNOUNCE PLAN TO INVEST $1.9 BN IN S. KOREA
Six U.S. advanced technology firms onApril 25 announced plans to invest a combined USD 1.9 billion in S. Korea in theareas of hydrogen fuel, semiconductors andenvironment-friendly facilities, S. Korea'spresidential office said.The announcement came during an investment ceremony attended by President YoonSuk Yeol during his ongoing state visit to theUnited States.The six companies are Air Products andPlug Power from the hydrogen fuel sector;onsemi and Greene Tweed from the semiconductor sector; and PureCycle Technologies and EMP Belstar from the environment-friendly business, the presidential officesaid in a press release.The companies plan to build production facilities in S. Korea, which will helpstrengthen the two countries' cooperation onsupply chains and advanced technologiesand contribute to the transition to an environment-friendly energy and industrial structure,according to the presidential office.
▶ NETFLIX ANNOUNCESPLAN TO INVEST $2.5BN IN S. KOREA
Netflix said April 24 it will invest USD 2.5billion in S. Korea over the next four years toproduce Korean TV series, movies and scripted shows.The U.S. streaming service announced theplan following a meeting between S. KoreanPresident Yoon Suk Yeol and Netflix co-CEOTed Sarandos after Yoon arrived in Washington for a state visit.Sarandos said the sum is twice the amountNetflix has invested in S. Korea since it started there in 2016. Citing Korean hits, such as"Squid Game," "The Glory" and "Physical100," he also said stories produced by Koreancreators are "now at the heart of the globalcultural zeitgeist."S. Korea's culture ministry said in a releasethat the investment is the largest ever to bemade in the country's content industry andwill help create 68,000 jobs. The ministry alsosaid it will help strengthen the capabilities ofdomestic production companies and increasetheir chances of advancing to the global market.
■ Trade & Commerce
▶FARM GOODSEXPORTS HIT RECORD HIGH IN Q1
S. Korea's exports of agriculture productsreached an all-time high in the first quarterof the year on the back of strong demand forkimchi and processed foods, data showed onApril 2.The record amount of USD 1.98 billionrepresents a 13.7 percent rise from the previousyear, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.By category, outbound shipments of freshproducts remained sluggish, but those ofprocessed goods increased 9.3 percent to hitUSD 359 million.The ministry said exports of kimchi, atraditional Korean side dish usually madeof fermented cabbage, salt and hot peppers,soared 54.4 percent to reach USD 47 million.Outbound shipments of ginseng-related products, widely consumed as health supplementsin S. Korea, also grew to reach USD 230 million last year amid the growing popularity ofhealth products during the pandemic. Exportsof processed rice goods, such as home mealslike porridge, grew 14.7 percent to USD 1.62billion, while those of instant noodles gained18.9 percent to USD 157 million.
■ Industry
▶S. KOREA'S DATAMARKET IS ESTIMATEDAT $19 BN LAST YEAR
According to the results of a survey on thecurrent status of the data industry in 2022,released by the Ministry of Science and ICTand the Korea Data Agency on April 18, thesize of the data market in 2021 was estimatedto be KRW 22.9 trillion (USD 17.37 billion),and the estimated figure for last year wasKRW 25.05 trillion (USD 19.0 billion).The ministry reported that the size of themarket has shown a steady growth rate of11.9 percent on average over the past threeyears. The number of people working in thedata industry last year increased by 12,000from the previous year to 406,000.The survey was conducted by surveyinga sample of 1,375 data industry companiesselected from among 8,940 companies and1,200 other industry samples through a questionnaire.
▶ONLINE SALES OFTRAVEL SERVICESMORE THAN DOUBLEIN Q1 ON EASEDVIRUS CURBS
Online sales of travel and transportationservices more than doubled on-year in thefirst quarter of 2023 on eased COVID-19 restrictions, data showed on May 1.The value of online transactions of traveland transportation services amounted to KRW5.51 trillion (USD 4.11 billion) during theJanuary-March period, compared with KRW2.6 trillion tallied a year earlier, according todata from Statistics Korea.It is the largest amount since the statisticsagency began compiling related data in 2017,and the growth was also the sharpest ever.
■ Government & Policy
▶KOREA TO GRANTSUBSIDIESTO FOREIGNCOMPANIESINVESTING INADVANCEDTECHNOLOGIES
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energyon April 26 held a committee meeting to discuss cash incentives for foreign investment inKorea. The ministry expanded the eligibilityfor cash support by adding foreign investments in the national advanced strategic technology to the list of subsidy recipients.The national advanced strategic technology,which is different from the national strategic technology under the Special TaxationLimitation Act, refers to a group of 15 coretechnologies related to chips, displays, andsecondary batteries They include the technology of design, processing, and device tech forDRAMs and three-dimensional lamination.Foreign companies will become eligiblefor cash subsidies worth up to 50 percent oftheir total investments in national advancedstrategic technology. The government’s shareof funding for advanced strategic technologywill also be raised by 10 percentage points to50 percent for investment facilities located inthe Seoul Metropolitan area and to 80 percentfor those in the rest of the regions in the country.
▶S. KOREA TOINJECT $15 BN INRECHARGEABLEBATTERY SECTORBY 2030
S. Korea will invest KRW 20 trillion (USD15.1 billion) in the rechargeable battery sectorby 2030 to widen its technology gap withglobal competitors, President Yoon Suk Yeolsaid at a meeting with business leaders onApril 20.At the meeting, Lee Chang-yang, Ministerof Trade, Industry and Energy, announced aplan to start manufacturing next-generationbatteries, such as solid-state batteries, 4680-type cylindrical batteries and cobalt-freebatteries, in Korea and mass produce themoverseas.Among the attendees were Kwon Young soo, vice chairman of LG Energy Solution,Ji Dong-seob, chief executive of SK On Co.,Choi Yoon-ho, chief executive of SamsungSDI Co., and Chang Jae-hoon, executive vicepresident of Hyundai Motor Co.