Factbox-Impact of strike by South Korean truckers on autos, steel, others

(Reuters) – Hundreds of South Korean truckers have been on strike for a sixth day on Sunday, protesting over pay as gasoline prices surge, disrupting manufacturing, slowing port operations and posing new dangers to a strained international provide chain.

Following are particulars of the disruption, misplaced manufacturing and reactions from union officers and companies.

AUTOS

Manufacturing at Hyundai Motor Co’s largest manufacturing unit advanced, in Ulsan, fell to about 60% on Friday due to element shortages brought on by the strike, a union official on the automaker stated.

The crops operated for further runs over the weekend to clear backorders. Hyundai stated there was disruption however declined to supply particulars and expressed hope of returning to regular as quickly as attainable.

Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan factories make about 6,000 autos day by day, the union says. The strike had price the automaker 4,000 to five,000 autos as of Friday – price as much as 235 billion gained ($180 million).

A number of hundred truckers staged a weekend sit-in outdoors Hyundai’s Ulsan advanced however didn’t block autos from moving into or out, a Reuters witness stated.

Workers at Kia Corp’s Gwangju plant have been utilizing newly assembled automobiles to make deliveries, media reported.

BATTERIES

LG Vitality Answer, SK Innovation’s battery unit SK On and Samsung SDI Co collectively command greater than one-fourth of the worldwide electrical car battery market.

One of many three made shipments earlier than the strike as a precaution, an organization official stated. The agency didn’t expertise disruptions final week however will reassess its dealing with of shipments if the strike continues, the official stated.

SEMICONDUCTORS

The truckers plan to cease shipments of uncooked supplies for semiconductors produced in Ulsan, stated union official Park Jeong-tae.

Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix, two of the world’s largest reminiscence chip makers, declined to remark.

A significant tech producer doesn’t count on near-term disruptions given its inventories of uncooked supplies, an official stated.

CEMENT, STEEL

Steelmaker POSCO stated the strike had halted shipments from two crops by about one-third, or 35,000 tonnes a day.

A significant cement maker had stopped transport for 4 days as of Friday with truckers outdoors the gate, uncooked supplies have been working out and storage was about to hit capability, an government stated.

Truckers blocked the entry to the work websites of Hanil Cement Co and Sungshin Cement Co in Chungcheong province, Newsis reported. The businesses plan to spice up transport by prepare to minimise the impression, it stated.

REFINERS, PETROCHEMICALS

The variety of autos getting into an Ulsan petrochemical advanced has fallen some 90% from regular ranges and truckers could be telling non-union drivers to not enter the advanced, stated Park from the truckers union.

The strike threatens logistics for polyethylene and polypropylene, stated an individual acquainted with South Korea’s petrochemical operations.

A significant refiner had not seen a lot impression on shipments and deliveries as of Thursday, and petrol stations normally had inventories to cowl two weeks, however the state of affairs would worsen if the strike have been extended, an organization official stated.

South Korea has the world’s fifth-largest refining capability and had 3.3 million barrels per day of crude oil distillation refining capability firstly 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, stated 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 stated.

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 stated.

($1 = 1,279.3200 gained)

(Reporting by Seoul bureau; Modifying by Robert Birsel and William Mallard)