Ministry of Trade Industry and Resources

APEC Automotive Dialogue Continues Discussion on Intelligent, Eco-friendly Future Car Technology & Policies

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced that the 42nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Automotive Dialogue (AD) will be held from Friday, August 1 to Saturday, August 2 at Songdo ConvensiA in Incheon, Korea, in connection with APEC 2025. Established in 1999, the APEC AD is an official public-private consultative body where governments and industries across the APEC region share key policy issues and trends in the automobile industry and explore cooperative measures together. Governments and industries from 14 APEC member economies, including the Republic of Korea, the US, Japan, and China, will be attending the forum, co-chaired again by MOTIE and the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA) following the 41st AD held from May 8 to 9 at Jeju ICC. Main agendas of the forum include prospects for the global automobile market; strategies for the ecosystem of electric vehicles and batteries; social effects of future technologies such as AI and autonomous driving; and the inclusiveness and sustainability of future mobility. The Korean delegation will present on battery safety technology trends, hydrogen mobility, future automobile technologies including connected autonomous driving, and relevant policy issues. Prior to this forum, an AD workshop for working-level experts was held on July 31, focusing on sustainable development of the automobile industry and possible ways to realize human-centered mobility to promote technology collaboration and policy exchange between APEC members. This APEC AD will provide an opportunity for participating APEC members to seek joint responses to key future automotive issues and to solidify cooperation for building a sustainable and inclusive future automobile ecosystem. date2025-08-01

Korea's Exports Rise 5.9% in July

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on August 1 that Korea’s exports in July 2025 rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to USD 60.8 billion, while imports edged up 0.7 percent to $54.2 billion. The trade balance recorded a surplus of $6.6 billion. Daily average exports for the month, factoring in the number of working days, also rose 5.9 percent to $2.4 billion. Of Korea’s 15 major export categories, three posted growth in July. Semiconductors hit a historic high for the month, up 31.6 percent to $14.7 billion, driven by rising contract prices and sustained global demand for high-value memory products, such as HBM and DDR5. Automobile exports grew 8.8 percent to $5.8 billion for the second consecutive month, supported by strong demand for hybrid electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles. Ship exports increased for the fifth straight month, soaring 107.6 percent to $2.2 billion fueled by greater shipments of high-value vessels, including tankers and LNG carriers. Non-major export items reached a new record of $14.2 billion with the help of agricultural food products (up 3.8 percent to $1.1 billion), cosmetics (up 18.1 percent to $1.0 billion), and electric machinery (up 19.2 percent to $1.6 billion). Furthermore, exports increased in six out of nine major regional markets. Exports to ASEAN climbed 10.1 percent to $10.9 billion, driven largely by strong growth in semiconductors, though China-bound exports dropped 3.0 percent to $11.0 billion. Exports to the US increased 1.4 percent to $10.3 billion due to a rise in semiconductors, wireless communication devices, cosmetics, electric machinery, and other non-major export items, offsetting declines in steel and automobile parts. Exports to the EU grew for the fifth consecutive month, gaining 8.7 percent to $6.0 billion, with multiple major export items such as automobiles, ships, and petroleum products trending upward. Exports to CIS countries (up 21.5 percent to $1.2 billion) grew for the fifth consecutive month, and Latin America (up 4.4 percent to $2.7 billion) and India (up 10.7 percent to $1.8 billion) marked their second consecutive months of growth. Exports to Taiwan also soared 68 percent to $4.7 billion thanks to a near-doubling of semiconductor exports. date2025-08-01

Korea’s retail industry grows 7.8% in H1 2025

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced today that Korea’s retail industry gained 7.8 percent year-on-year in the first half (H1) of 2025, with offline sales declining 0.1 percent and online sales advancing 15.8 percent. MOTIE's monthly retail sales figures are based on surveys of 23 major retailers. Thirteen of them are brick-and-mortar retailers: three department store chains, three hypermarket chains, three convenience store chains, and four super supermarket (SSMs) operators. The remaining 10 are online retailers. Korea’s retail industry growth over the past five years was mainly driven by sales of department stores, convenience stores, and SSMs, powered by consumer preference for luxury goods and shopping local trends. Moreover, the increasing number of single-person households led to the expansion of small quantity purchases and online grocery shopping. On the other hand, online retail sales rose steeply each year alongside the growth of the service sector, as e-coupons, travel/culture packages, and delivery services continued to flourish. During H1 2025, offline retail sales were affected by deteriorating consumer sentiment, rise of e-commerce, and the decreasing number of brick-and-mortar store visitors. Consequently, sales at hypermarkets (down 1.1 percent) and convenience stores (down 0.5 percent) dropped, whereas those of department stores inched upward by 0.5 percent on the backs of increasing demand for luxury goods. SSMs (up 1.8 percent) experienced a steady growth in the number of stores based on the rise in food prices and demand for home dining. By category, strong demand for home dining and services drove up sales of food products (up 8.3 percent), service/other (up 28.8 percent), and home/living (up 3.7 percent). Online retail sales were especially high in service/other (up 57.6 percent) and the sales growth of food products was also higher across online retail (up 19.6 percent) compared to offline (up 0.6 percent). Meanwhile, sales of fashion/miscellaneous (down 2.6 percent) and kids/sports (down 2.9 percent) decreased. For the month of June 2025, offline retail sales fell 1.1 percent year-on-year while online sales climbed 15.9 percent, achieving an overall growth of 7.3 percent.   date2025-07-30

Trade Minister Meets U.S. Trade Representative

Korea’s Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on July 25 (local time) in Washington, D.C. to discuss ways to advance bilateral tariff negotiations. date2025-07-28

Minister Meets Chair of White House Energy Council

Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan met with White House National Energy Council Chair Doug Burgum on July 24 (local time) in Washington, D.C. to explore measures to deepen bilateral cooperation in the energy sector. date2025-07-28

Minister Meets U.S. Secretary of Commerce

Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on July 24 (local time) in Washington, D.C. to discuss progress in bilateral tariff negotiations and ways to enhance industrial cooperation. date2025-07-28

Minister Meets U.S. Secretary of Energy

Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan met with U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on July 23 (local time) in Washington, D.C. to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the energy sector. date2025-07-28

KTC Recommends Provisional Anti-Dumping Duties on Hot-Rolled Products from Japan and China

The Korea Trade Commission (KTC) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) held its 462nd session today to review two anti-dumping cases and two patent infringement cases in international trade, and received a report on one newly initiated patent infringement investigation. The KTC examined ongoing anti-dumping investigations launched in March this year on hot-rolled carbon and alloy steel products from Japan and China, as well as single-mode optical fiber from China. The KTC issued preliminary determinations confirming dumping in both cases and found that the dumped imports caused material injury to the Korean industry. To prevent further damage during the ongoing investigations, the KTC decided to recommend to the Korea’s economy and finance minister the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties of between 28.16% and 33.57% for Japanese and Chinese hot-rolled products, and of 43.35% for Chinese single-mode optical fiber. Regarding patent-related trade cases, the KTC revisited a complaint filed by Wyeth LLC concerning alleged infringement of its pneumococcal conjugate vaccine patent. Although the KTC initially ruled in February 2024 that the respondent had infringed the patent, a recent administrative court ruling overturned that decision. Accordingly, the KTC issued a redetermination in line with the court’s ruling for non-infringement. The KTC also received a report on the initiation of a new investigation filed in June 2025 by Korean company Value Innovation Partners Co., Ltd. concerning patent infringement regarding connected electric vehicles. date2025-07-25

MOTIE and Hyundai Motor Group Sign MOU

Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Lee Hohyeon attended the signing ceremony for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)  between the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Hyundai Motor Group on July 22 at Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang in Gyeonggi Province. The event was organized to establish cooperation for providing eco-friendly vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), during Energy Super Week.  Before the ceremony, Vice Minister  Lee toured the exhibition space inside the studio. Through this MOU, MOTIE and Hyundai Motor Group will support the provision of eco-friendly vehicles for ministerial-level delegates, representatives, and international organizations participating in the APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting . Attendees included officials from MOTIE and Hyundai Motor Group, among them Dongwook Kim, Executive Vice President  of Hyundai Motor Company.  date2025-07-23

Vice Minister meets Czech Industry and Trade Minister

Korea's Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Lee Hohyeon met Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček on July 18 in Seoul to discuss bilateral cooperation in nuclear, industries, energy, and infrastructure. date2025-07-21