Jung In-gyo: "General Trading Companies Must Play a Leading Role in Supply Chain Management"

POSCO International Site Visit
Discussion on Diversifying Supply Chains for Critical Minerals, Raw Materials, and Energy

Jung In-kyo, Director General for Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (File photo)

Jung In-kyo, Head of the Trade Negotiation Headquarters at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated on the 14th that "in response to the era of economic security, general trading companies must become the vanguard of supply chain stabilization."

On the same day, Head Jung visited the headquarters of POSCO International to discuss ways to expand South Korea's exports and stabilize the global supply chain by leveraging the overseas networks and trading expertise of general trading companies.

An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said, "General trading companies are expanding their roles and scope as export vanguards, supply chain management leaders, and helpers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in exports," adding, "Since the introduction of the general trading company system in 1975, they have played a pioneering role in leading our exports and overseas expansion."

Recently, their activities have expanded beyond traditional manufacturing-based intermediary trade to include overseas resource development, large-scale infrastructure contracts, and various supply chains such as food and energy. In particular, with the emergence of new industries like electric vehicles and batteries, they are contributing to the expansion of stable supply chains through direct equity investments in key minerals such as graphite and nickel. Additionally, general trading companies are increasingly playing an important role as export helpers by incorporating excellent domestic SMEs and mid-sized companies into global supply chains based on their overseas networks accumulated through trading experience.

The government is strengthening tailored support in line with the role of general trading companies. First, to stabilize supply chains through general trading companies, it has introduced import insurance support for supply chain stabilization items, expanded financing for overseas resource development, and tax credits for overseas investment in mining rights (3% of investment and equity capital). Furthermore, plans are underway to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation with resource-holding countries by utilizing trade networks related to key minerals, including the Mineral Security Partnership (MSP). In particular, collaboration plans using the early warning system for supply chain stabilization operated by related organizations such as KOTRA will be concretized. Moreover, active support will be provided for the joint overseas expansion of general trading companies designated as specialized trading companies under the Foreign Trade Act and excellent SMEs and mid-sized companies.

Head Jung emphasized, "In today's era of economic security, close communication and cooperation between policy authorities and companies as economic security partners are more important than anything else," and urged, "General trading companies like POSCO International, based on their extensive overseas networks, unique trading capabilities, and trading expertise, should become export helpers that match excellent domestic SMEs and mid-sized companies, which have high domestic demand dependence, with global demand markets to support their overseas expansion."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.