Petrochemical, Heavy Industries to Fare Well Next Year
by Choi Hong-seop (hschoi@chosun.com)
The Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) said Friday that business at the nation's petrochemical industry is expected to turn around for the first time in several years, shipbuilding industry would continue to grow and the automotive industry would suffer a brief regress before moving forward next year.
Overall, the prospects for the industries are promising, the think tank said.
For the petrochemical industry, a supply glut which has been impeding the industry's growth this year will ease next year, and as global oil prices settle down, the domestic sales of the petrochemical products will rise by 2.7 percent and exports by 4.8 percent, bringing a gradual recovery for the industry, SERI said.
SERI, however, predicted that Korean petrochemical firms' 20.9-percent share of the Chinese market would fall substantially next year, as more foreign firms open up production plants in China.
The business prospects for the automotive sector are rosy for next year, as the recovery in the global economy is to speed up next year and Korean auto makers are ready to release their new models. Korean car firms faced a major setback in their sales this year because of chilling domestic consumption.
According to a senior researcher at SERI, the Korean auto industry would have an optimistic year, as the quality of Korean cars has been improving and GM Daewoo, in particular, is expected to gain momentum in exporting its products.
The researcher, however, said that in order to stay competitive the Korean car firms would have to continue to expand their market share in China, and would have to be on alert for Japanese car firms advancing into the Korean market.
Korean shipbuilders will also have to cope with challenges from Chinese rivals. Chinese shipbuilders snagged 2.5 percent of the world's new shipbuilding orders in 1998, but the share skyrocketed to 12.6 percent last year. In China, about 10 new shipyards are under construction, the research firm said.
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