Tuesday, March 4th, 2014
Seoul, Korea - The volume of supply that the first-tier parts suppliers of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors made to overseas automobile assembly plants has approached the 10-trillion-won level last year for the first time.
The Korea Auto Industries Cooperative Association said on March 3 that the total amount of supply delivered by its 300 member firms to global companies like Volkswagen, Ford, and Chrysler was 9.66 trillion won.
The total supply volume is calculated by adding sales amount made by local plants established by Korean parts companies to export amount recorded by partner firms. The export volume last year was 4.29 trillion won, with overseas production volume 5.37 trillion won.
The profitability of the parts suppliers has improved markedly as Hyundai and Kia increased the share of overseas finished car sales. According to the association, the total supply amount has grown 79 percent from 5.40 trillion won in 2011. This is also 11 percent higher than the supply volume of 8,7 trillion won recorded in 2012.
A Korea Auto Industries Cooperative Association official said, "Parts suppliers moving overseas in groups is desirable in increasing their parts sales. We will work hard to promote our member firms overseas so that they could get more business opportunities overseas."