[Amazing Korea] Foreign investment in Korea is on the rise

Foreign investment in Korea is on the rise

 

 Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Korea is recovering, data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed on Sunday. Through the third quarter of this year, FDI amounted to $13.27 billion, down 10.5 percent compared with a the same period last year, but recovering from a 30 percent drop in the first quarter of this year. The trade ministry said FDI during the third quarter alone, of $4.4 billion, was in line with $4.48 billion during third quarter of last year.

“Given that the rise last year was due to big cross-border merger and acquisition in September, the third quarter’s numbers are quite solid,” the ministry said.

 FDI during the first quarter was $3.56 billion and the second quarter was $5.32 billion. FDI on actual arrival basis was $10.8 billion won through the third quarter of this year, up 9.0 percent year-on-year, breaking the psychologically significant $10 billion mark.

“The significant $10 billion mark was broken in the shortest period ever this year, and I think this will signify rising foreign interest in Korea-related investment to other foreign investors who are interested in Korea” said Choo So-ryeong, a trade ministry official. This was also more than the five-year average of $10.3 billion on a reported basis and $6.31 billion on actual arrival basis. The increase was due to a rise in service and construction related investments.

 The ministry said it was also seeing the plans for investment reported by foreign investors taking place “smoothly and according to plans.”

 Looking into segments, the service industry saw $8.9 billion investments through the third quarter, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, led by Chinese Anbang Insurance Group’s $1 billion buyout of Tong Yang Life Insurance.

 Construction sector related investments spiked by 812.2 percent to $1.42 billion.

 But manufacturing sector saw a sharp decline in FDI, to $2.95 billion, down 51.3 percent year-on-year, due mostly to last year’s one-off spike in FDI from big M&A deals.

 However, FDI in the manufacturing sector was still on the rise looking at this year’s trends, from $390 million in the first quarter of this year to $1.85 billion in the third quarter. Investments from China increased significantly, with the FDI from China amounting $1.53 billion, up 48 percent year-on-year. Investment from Japan declined 27 percent to $1.2 billion, while the U.S. fell 4.0 percent to $2.98 billion.



Source : http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/Article.aspx?aid=3009891

[Amazing Korea] Korea’s ICT Industry Reached Record-high Trade Surplus Last Month

Excess of Export Korea’s ICT Industry Reached Record-high Trade Surplus Last Month

 

 

 

 

 The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning announced on Oct. 13 that Korea’s ICT exports increased by 1.6 percent year-on-year last month to US$15.9 billion, the highest level since the beginning of this year. It added that the country’s ICT imports for Sept. increased by 1.4 percent from a year ago to US$7.77 billion, and the trade surplus reached a new high.

 Korea showed positive export growth in the ICT industry for two months in a row in spite of market research firm Gartner’s prediction that the global ICT market is likely to shrink by 4.9 percent this year and the fact that overall exports from Korea posted a decrease of 8.3 percent last month.

 The remarkable performance was led by digital TV suppliers as well as mobile phone and semiconductor exporters. Digital TV and component exports, which continued to fall year-on-year during the first eight months of this year, recorded an increase of 9.3 percent to US$610 million in Sept., while mobile phone and semiconductor exports rose 34.1 percent and 0.8 percent to US$2.83 billion and US$5.86 billion, respectively.

 On the contrary, the exports of display products declined 14.5 percent to US$2.68 billion, and those of computers and auxiliary equipment fell 9.0 percent to US$600 million during the same period.



SOURCE : http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/money/12470-excess-export-korea%E2%80%99s-ict-industry-reached-record-high-trade-surplus-last-month#sthash.mWFwTWtx.dpuf

[Amazing Korea] Korea rises to No.6 exporter

Korea rises to No.6 exporter

 

 

 

 

 South Korea was the sixth-largest exporting nation accounting for 3.1 percent of total world exports in 2014, data showed Monday.

 

According to a special edition published by Statistics Korea to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day, Korea’s exports increased from $25 million in 1956 to $572.7 billion in 2014.

 

The nation recently overtook France in export volume, but continued to lag behind China, the U.S., Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.

 

Korea ranked eighth in trade volume -- both exports and imports -- with $1.09 trillion in 2014. The country accounted for 2.9 percent of the world’s total trade.

 

But its high trade dependence also leaves the export-driven country vulnerable to the volatility of global economic factors such as the situation in its export destinations and geopolitical risks among its raw material trade partners. Korea saw its degree of trade dependence surge to 99.5 percent in 2014, compared to 15.2 percent in 1956.

 

The data also showed that the Korean economy has expanded about 31,000-fold since the Korean War (1950-1953). Its gross domestic product, which stood at 47.7 billion won ($44.7 million) in 1953, increased to 1.48 quadrillion won in 2014. Its per capita gross national income increased from $67 to $28,180 in the same period.

 

At 10th place in 2005, its GDP ranking has now been overtaken by countries such as Brazil (No. 7), India (No. 9) and Russia (No. 10).

 

Women’s participation in economic activities has also gradually increased over the past few decades. The female labor force participation rate which was 37 percent in 1963, climbed to 51.1 percent in 2014. The employment rate of women also rose from 34.3 percent to 49.5 percent over the same period.

 

In particular, the proportion of women among the total employed has continued to increase -- 34.8 percent in 1963, 38.2 percent in 1980, 40.8 percent in 1990, 41.4 percent in 2000 and 42 percent in 2014.

 

Consumer prices posted a 36-fold increase between 1965 and 2014, which indicates that a product priced at 10,000 won in 1965 would have been worth 360,000 won last year.

 

South Korea’s population, which surpassed 51.4 million this year, ranked 26th in the world and 13th in Asia as of 2010.

 

“But its population is projected to decrease to 43.96 million in 2060 after peaking at 52.16 million in 2030,” said the office.

 

 

SOURCE : http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150810001066