Bracing for Quantum Leap

Machinery industry to invest 9.3 tln won in facility investments over next 3 years

The Korean machinery industry plans to funnel some 9.3 trillion won into facility investments over the next three years, including 3 trillion won for this year.
The Korea Association of Machinery Industry (KOAMI) held a New Year’s gathering at the 63 Building in Yeouido, Seoul, Jan. 13, with Minister of Knowledge Economy (MKE) Choi Kyung-hwan participating, and unveiled plans to set aside a combined 9.3 trillion won for facility investments during the period from 2010 through 2012; 3 trillion won in 2010, 3.1 trillion won in 2011 and 3.2 trillion won in 2012.
KOAMI said the nation invested 2.9 trillion won in 2009, a 32.7 percent surge over 2008, and saw machinery exports plummet 28 percent over 2008 to $26.8 billion due to the global economic downturn. However, exports are forecast to post 11.5 percent growth during 2010 thanks to a rise in machinery demand following the economic recovery and full-fledged operation of new facilities. In particular, such items as petrochemical equipment, semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment, hydraulics devices for construction machinery and engines are expected to lead the surge in demand.
MKE Minister Choi said in his speech, “The Korean machinery industry’s 2009 achievements, 2.9 trillion won in facility investment and $26 billion worth of exports, were owed to the development of value-added technologies and exporting efforts.” Choi said that now is the time for KOAMI to prepare strategies to make a quantum leap. The minister added that the machinery industry needs to establish marketing strategies tailored to meet the characteristics of each region in order to get a jumpstart in emerging markets while concentrating on capabilities to develop new environmental-friendly, value-added items in keeping with the paradigm shift.
In his speech, KOAMI Chairman Chung Ji-taik urged the machinery industry community to concentrate its investments on the environmental and energy fields so that it can make the industry a leading, green-growth industrial sector.
Among the roughly 250 participants of the gathering were MKE Minister Choi; Cho Hwan-eik, CEO of KOTRA; Korea Institute of Industrial Technology President Na Kyung-hwan; Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials President Lee Sang-chon; and Kyonggi Institute of Technology President Han Young-soo. nw

(clockwise) Participants of a New Year’s gathering for the local machinery community on Jan. 13,; Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Kyung-hwan speaks at a New Year’s gathering for the machinery industry,; and Korea Association of Machinery Industry Chairman Chung Ji-taik gives a speech.