June 12 (Reuters) – Hundreds of South Korean truckers had been on strike for a sixth day on Sunday, protesting over pay as gas prices surge, disrupting manufacturing, slowing port operations and posing new dangers to a strained international provide chain. learn extra
Following are particulars of the disruption, misplaced manufacturing and reactions from union officers and companies.
AUTOS
Manufacturing at Hyundai Motor Co’s (005380.KS) largest manufacturing unit complicated, in Ulsan, fell to about 60% on Friday due to element shortages attributable to the strike, a union official on the automaker mentioned. learn extra
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The vegetation operated for further runs over the weekend to clear backorders. Hyundai mentioned there was disruption however declined to supply particulars and expressed hope of returning to regular as quickly as potential.
Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan factories make about 6,000 autos each day, the union says. The strike had price the automaker 4,000 to five,000 autos as of Friday – value as much as 235 billion received ($180 million).
A number of hundred truckers staged a weekend sit-in outdoors Hyundai’s Ulsan complicated however didn’t block autos from getting in or out, a Reuters witness mentioned.
Workers at Kia Corp’s (000270.KS) Gwangju plant had been utilizing newly assembled automobiles to make deliveries, media reported.
BATTERIES
LG Vitality Resolution (373220.KS), SK Innovation’s (096770.KS) battery unit SK On and Samsung SDI Co (006400.KS) collectively command greater than one-fourth of the worldwide electrical automobile battery market.
One of many three made shipments earlier than the strike as a precaution, an organization official mentioned. The agency didn’t expertise disruptions final week however will reassess its dealing with of shipments if the strike continues, the official mentioned.
SEMICONDUCTORS
The truckers plan to cease shipments of uncooked supplies for semiconductors produced in Ulsan, mentioned union official Park Jeong-tae.
Samsung Electronics Co (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS), two of the world’s largest reminiscence chip makers, declined to remark.
A serious tech producer doesn’t anticipate near-term disruptions given its inventories of uncooked supplies, an official mentioned.
CEMENT, STEEL
Steelmaker POSCO (005490.KS) mentioned the strike had halted shipments from two vegetation by about one-third, or 35,000 tonnes a day. learn extra
A serious cement maker had stopped transport for 4 days as of Friday with truckers outdoors the gate, uncooked supplies had been working out and storage was about to hit capability, an government mentioned.
Truckers blocked the entry to the work websites of Hanil Cement Co (300720.KS) and Sungshin Cement Co (004980.KS) in Chungcheong province, Newsis reported. The businesses plan to spice up transport by prepare to minimise the impression, it mentioned.
REFINERS, PETROCHEMICALS
The variety of autos coming into an Ulsan petrochemical complicated has fallen some 90% from regular ranges and truckers could be telling non-union drivers to not enter the complicated, mentioned Park from the truckers union.
The strike threatens logistics for polyethylene and polypropylene, mentioned an individual acquainted with South Korea’s petrochemical operations.
A serious refiner had not seen a lot impression on shipments and deliveries as of Thursday, and petrol stations often had inventories to cowl two weeks, however the scenario would worsen if the strike had been extended, an organization official mentioned.
South Korea has the world’s fifth-largest refining capability and had 3.3 million barrels per day of crude oil distillation refining capability originally of 2020.
HITE JINRO
Police have made greater than two dozen arrests together with members of the truckers union for blocking the Hite Jinro brewery in Icheon southeast of Seoul, Yonhap information reported.
PORTS AND CONTAINERS
Busan Port, the world’s seventh-biggest container port, mentioned the strike had minimize its container site visitors by two-thirds from regular ranges.
Container storage websites are filling up and authorities are discussing measures to safe extra, a authorities official mentioned.
The motion of containers at Ulsan port, which accounts for about 10% of South Korea’s port site visitors, has been suspended since Tuesday, a authorities official mentioned.
($1 = 1,279.3200 received)
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Reporting by Seoul bureau; Modifying by Robert Birsel and William Mallard
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