'반도체 힘' 제조업 수익성 최고 기록<br /><br />Profitability last quarter at South Korean manufacturers rose to its highest level since 2015. <br />According to the nation's central bank, this was mainly due strong exports of semiconductors.<br />Our Ko Roon-hee reports. <br />Korean companies saw their profitability increase in the 3rd quarter compared to last year... on the back of strong exports in the machinery and electronics sectors.<br />This is according to the Bank of Korea's quarterly report released on Thursday, which is based on a sample survey of more than 3-thousand companies.<br />These firms' operating-profits-to-sales ratio, or profitability, came to 7-point-6 percent for the third quarter.<br />This is higher than last year's Q3 record of 7-point-4 percent. <br />Breaking it down by sector, profitability in the manufacturing industry hit a record-high of 9-point-7 percent.<br />This was mainly thanks to strong global demand for Korean semiconductors.<br />Exports of semiconductors surged by more than 40 percent on-year in the third quarter.<br />The BOK said another factor was a rise in exports of OLED panels.<br />In fact, shipments of OLED panels accounted for almost half of all display panel exports in Q3, which was a big jump from last year.<br />However, a separate report from the Korea Economic Research Institute shows that without the performances of these top companies, the situation in the electronics sector is looking grim.<br />When the institute measured operating profits at 47 electronics companies for the first three quarters of this year, it grew by more than 50-percent on year. <br />But when it excluded the profits of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the nation's biggest chipmakers, operating profits fell by almost 50-percent during the same period.<br />Experts blame factors both at home and abroad.<br /> "Korean companies' technological competitiveness has not been improving. On top of that, Korea is closely followed by China. Also, I believe a rise in labor costs made companies less competitive."<br />Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.
