Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Minister Sung meets with steel industry leaders to share policy directions for 2019

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo (center) met with steel industry leaders to share the Korean government’s 2019 policy directions at a new year’s gathering in Seoul on January 10.During his congratulatory remarks at the meeting, Minister Sung praised their efforts in achieving steel exports of $600 billion last year amid rising global protectionism and other uncertainties.To overcome the challenges posed by internal and external factors this year, Minister Sung asked f date2019-01-10

Minister Sung shares policy directions for 2019 with petrochemical industry leaders

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yunmo (fourth from the right) shared the Korean government’s policy directions for 2019 with petrochemical industry leaders at a new year’s meeting in Seoul on January 8.During his congratulatory remarks, Minister Sung said that the Korean petrochemical exports that surpassed the $50 billion mark last year made a great contribution to the country’s economic growth. He attributed this achievement to active investment activities and increa date2019-01-08

Online retail sales register double-digit growth in November

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on December 31 that Korea’s online retail sales in November registered a double-digit growth rate of 12.7 percent compared to a year earlier. With offline retail sales declining 0.5 percent, the overall retail sales saw an improvement of 4.6 percent.Despite growth in convenience stores and super supermarkets (SSMs), brick-and-mortar stores experienced a decrease in sales because hypermarkets slowed down.The growth of the online sales mai date2018-12-31

Minister Sung awards government prizes to robot industry contributors

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yunmo awarded government prizes to individuals who contributed to the development of the robot industry at Robot Professionals’ Night 2018 in Seoul on December 19.The event showcased ten types of promising robot products, including caring robots and rehabilitation robots. The Korean government plans to roll out about 1,000 of these service robots to three basic local governments by 2019.During the congratulatory speech, Minister Sung emphasized that date2018-12-19

Auto exports, production post growth in November

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on December 13 that Korea's automobile exports and production in November posted growth compared to the same period last year.Exports of automobiles grew 1.6 percent to 238,357 units from a year earlier due to higher shipments of newly launched models to North America and Europe. In terms of value, automobile shipments to North America went up 0.2 percent to $1.7 billion, and those to the EU and non-EU European countries increased 3.3 percent date2018-12-13

Korea to roll out 4,000 hydrogen vehicles next year

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yunmo attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new fuel cell stack plant at the Hyundai Mobis factory in Chungju on December 11. Fuel cell stacks are key components that make up more than half of the cost to build a hydrogen vehicle. Hyundai Mobis’ current fuel cell stack plant can produce about 3,000 stacks per year. With the new plant, the annual production volume is expected to increase date2018-12-11

Minister Sung visits groundbreaking ceremony for fuel cell stack plant

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yunmo (third from the left) visited the groundbreaking ceremony for a fuel cell stack plant in Chungju on December 11.Fuel cell stacks are key components that make up more than half of the cost to build a hydrogen vehicle. Hyundai Mobis’ current fuel cell stack plant can produce about 3,000 stacks per year, and with the new plant, the annual production volume is expected to increase to 40,000 units by 2022.During his congratulatory speech at the cer date2018-12-11

Minister Sung delivers speech at conference for attracting Busan World Expo 2030

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yunmo (fourth from the right) delivered congratulatory remarks at the opening ceremony of the 5th International Conference for Attracting Busan World Expo 2030 that took place in Busan on December 4.The conference was held to promote the Busan World Expo 2030 bid and to build a network of foreign experts.More than 300 individuals attended the meeting. They include Busan City Mayor Oh Keo-don, BIE Secretary General Vicente G. Loscertales, and Polytechnic U date2018-12-04

Online retail sales increase 28.3 percent in October

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on November 30 that online retail sales in October increased 28.3 percent compared to the same period of last year due to greater demand for travel and concerts in the fall.Offline retailers, on the other hand, saw a decrease of 3.6 percent in sales mainly because of a base effect caused by last year’s Korean Thanksgiving Day that fell in October. This year, the Chuseok public holiday was in September.Despite the slight downturn of brick date2018-11-30

Industry Ministry and OECD host joint forum on business innovation in Seoul

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy hosted a joint forum with the OECD on the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and business innovation at COEX in Seoul on November 23.During his welcoming speech, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Legal Affairs Kim Chang-kyu (fourth from the left) introduced the Korean government’s policies related to 4IR and said he hoped that the forum with the OECD would provide suggestions to the Korean industry and trade.The forum was attended by more date2018-11-23