Bang Moon-kyu "Semiconductor exports expected to increase by 18% next year... Will announce system semiconductor development strategy"

Press Conference on the 6th

Bang Moon-kyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated, "Semiconductor exports are expected to increase by 18% next year," adding, "Semiconductors will show the fastest recovery."

At a press briefing held on the 6th, Minister Bang explained, "Internally, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expects exports to increase by about 5-6% next year, which is a more cautious forecast compared to projections from the Korea International Trade Association and Hyundai Research Institute," and added, "In particular, semiconductors, shipbuilding, and automobiles are expected to continue achieving record performances and perform well."

The ministry plans to announce a system semiconductor development strategy in February next year to solidify the growth trend in semiconductor exports. Minister Bang said, "The system semiconductor ecosystem involves semiconductor design intellectual property (IP), design houses, foundries, etc., but it is still relatively weak," adding, "We are preparing measures focused on this area." He also stated, "To prevent the leakage of our advanced technology, we will strengthen the Industrial Technology Protection Act to impose punitive damages of about 3 to 5 times the amount of damage in cases of leakage due to negligence."

The ministry is also promoting export special guarantee work to accelerate the recovery of the nuclear power ecosystem. He said, "We plan to implement an advance payment special system, which pays 30% of the total contract amount as an advance payment, starting from the 11th," and added, "Next year, the government plans to support a special loan project of about 100 billion won at an interest rate in the 2% range, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises."

Regarding industrial-use urea, which China has stopped exporting, he emphasized, "We have secured more than three months' worth of supply through domestic inventory and contracts outside China," and added, "For very urgent supplies, we are planning a system in consultation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to ensure smooth supply chain operation by partially supporting the price difference to secure at least the minimum amount."

Minister Bang also explained measures to prevent the recurrence of supply chain instability like the urea solution incident. He said, "We are conducting a comprehensive inspection related to the entire supply chain and plan to announce comprehensive measures soon."

Regarding electricity rates, the plan is to maintain minimal increases. Minister Bang said, "Previously, thinking that 'we should increase rates minimally,' we raised electricity rates mainly for large-scale businesses excluding households to put out the urgent fire for now," and added, "I think the effect of minimizing the rate increase will somewhat continue."

He was reserved about running in next year's general election. He said, "I have heard many stories about whether I will run (in the general election)," but added, "I hope to serve as long as possible as minister, but since I hold a public office, I will do my best in my duties until the day the appointing authority says otherwise."

Minister Kyu Banggyu of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (File photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

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