S.Korea truckers return to work after strike ends; shares rally (updated)

Hanil Holdings Co

15/06/2022 02:52

(Adds more companies' shipments resuming, Hyundai comment)
    By Byungwook Kim and Heekyong Yang
    SEOUL, June 15 (Reuters) - South Korea's unionised truckers
headed back on the roads on Wednesday after the union and the
transport ministry reached a tentative late-night agreement,
ending a nationwide strike that crippled ports and industrial
hubs. 
    The transport ministry and truckers union agreed on late
Tuesday to extend the truckers' minimum wage system and continue
discussing expanding a guarantee of minimum pay for carrying
cargo to cover additional products. The transport ministry will
also review expanding fuel subsidies.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Y107I
     Shares in some affected industries rose in early trade,
after the eight-day strike had delayed cargo shipments from
autos to cement and alcohol, costing South Korea more than $1.2
billion in lost output and unfilled deliveries. 
    "So the strike has been called off until our demands are
passed in parliament," said Park Jung-hoon, an official at the
union's Busan chapter, referring to the process the transport
ministry must undertake to implement the agreement. 
    "In the next two to three days, 100% of unionised truckers
at Busan port are expected to return to work after they get some
rest. There might be some shippers who seek retributions, and in
such cases, we will respond strongly." 
    The strike had been an early test of the new government of
President Yoon Suk-yeol and had further stretched global supply
chains already disrupted by China's COVID-19 curbs and Russia's
invasion of Ukraine.
    Shares in Hyundai Motor  005380.KS  rose 4% while shares in
Hanil Cement  300720.KS  rose as much as 7% in early trade. 
    "Production has been normalised at our Ulsan Plant and we
will continue to minimise customer inconvenience from the
production disruption," Hyundai Motor said in a statement to
Reuters on Wednesday.
    Yoo Ji-woong, an analyst at Daol Securities estimated the
strike had impacted about 5,000 vehicles each for both Hyundai
and Kia  000270.KS  but said there were sufficient opportunities
to make up for lost production during June through overtime. 
    Steelmaker POSCO, a unit of POSCO Holdings  005490.KS ,
halted work at some plants on Monday due to a lack of space to
store unshipped products, but plans to achieve originally
planned production output by adjusting its maintenance, a
spokesperson said. 
    "We plan to resume our overland transport of steel products
out of Pohang and Gwangyang steel plants starting 1 p.m. (0400
GMT) on Wednesday," the spokesperson added. 
    Korea Zinc  010130.KS  said its shipments of sulfuric acid,
a key raw material of semiconductors, are back on track after
strikers retreated from its production base in Ulsan. 
    An official at SK Plasma, which manufactures medicines with
plasma, said its shipments of plasma supplies, which had been
trapped in Busan port, partially resumed on Wednesday.

 (Reporting by Byungwook Kim and Heekyong Yang; Additional
reporting by Choonsik Yoo and Jihoon Lee; Writing by Joyce Lee;
Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
 ((joyce.lee@tr.com;))