Major firms' North American sales up 14% in Q3 despite US tariffs
Samsung Electronics' semiconductor plant under construction in Texas / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Sales by major Korean conglomerates and their affiliates in North America rose at a double-digit pace in the third quarter despite U.S. import tariffs, industry data showed Tuesday.
Sixty-seven conglomerates and their 194 affiliates posted combined U.S. sales of 343.8 trillion won ($235.6 billion) in the July-September period, up 14.1 percent from 301.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to a survey by corporate tracker Leaders Index.
The survey covered companies among the country's top 500 firms by sales that disclosed their third-quarter U.S. sales.
Over the same period, the surveyed firms' total global sales rose 8 percent on-year to 1,110.4 trillion won, increasing the share of U.S. sales in overall revenue to 31 percent from 29.3 percent.
By sector, information technology (IT) and electronics firms reported the strongest growth, with U.S. sales jumping 20.7 percent on-year to 157.9 trillion won in the third quarter.
SK hynix's U.S. sales surged 65.5 percent to 45.2 trillion won, while Samsung Electronics' rose 10.2 percent to 93.3 trillion won during the same period.
U.S. sales by automobile and auto parts makers edged up to 126.6 trillion won from 126.3 trillion won a year earlier.
In contrast, rechargeable battery makers posted weaker results in the U.S. market. Samsung SDI's U.S. sales plunged more than 40 percent on-year to 2.5 trillion won, while POSCO Future M's declined 27.6 percent to 782.3 billion won.