Today's Date:   Thursday, February 21, 2013

1. GRAIN & OILSEED ISSUES

Samyangsa Raises Wheat Flour Price by 8-9% [Korean, OSY]

http://www.asiae.co.kr/news/view.htm?idxno=2013022009111987691

Summary: Samyangsa, the fourth largest wheat flour mill in Korea announced that its wheat flour price will be increased by 8 to 9 percent from February 20.  Other leading flour mills have already increased the price of wheat flour earlier this year.  It is likely that price of related processed foods including snacks and bakery will also be raised in the coming month.

2. MARKETING ISSUES

Daesang Raises Seasoning Price by 8.4% on Average … Gooksoondang Raises Liquor Price by 6-8% [Korean, OSY]

http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2013021848441

Summary: Daesang, a leading Korean processor of seasonings announced that it had increased the price of its vinegar and seasoning products by 8.4 percent on average from January 18.  Gooksoondang, a liquor processor, also announced on January 18 that price of its liquor products will be raised 6 to 8 percent from March 1.

SH Lee, Chairman of HomePlus Resigns [Korean, OSY]

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=101&oid=028&aid=0002176670

Summary: Seung-Han Lee, chairman of HomePlus Korea, the second largest hypermarket store chain owned by TESCO UK, announced on February 19 that he had decided to resign from the company on May 15.  Industry sources commented that the resignation was related to sluggish growth of the company under the tightened government regulation on large-scale retail business.