The shipbuilding industry is one of the most important manufacturing and pillar industries in South Korea, and it is also a major exporter of South Korea's foreign trade, bringing a huge trade surplus to South Korea every year. In the past few years, the export value and foreign trade surplus of South Korea's shipbuilding industry have been at the top of South Korea's seven major export industries for consecutive years, with ship exports of US$46.7 billion and US$54.1 billion in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and ship exports falling below US$40 billion in 2012. Therefore, the trend of the shipbuilding market affects South Korea's sensitive "economic nerves", and at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the "cloudy, cold and warm" of the shipping market has become a hot spot for analysis and prediction in the Korean industry.
Forecast: The shipping market is expected to improve but remains sluggish in the short term South
Korean business and related industries are generally cautious about the outlook for the international shipbuilding market in 2013, but most believe that the shipping market will be better than in 2012. According to the 2013 "Meteorological Map" of South Korea's pillar export industry released by the Korea International Trade Association, the shipbuilding industry was "rainy" in 2012 and "cloudy" in 2013, and the meteorological level has risen to a higher level. According to the analysis of the Korean Federation of Industries, the organization of South Korea's large conglomerates, although the shipbuilding and shipping market will improve a little better than in 2012, it is still difficult to get out of the shadow of slow world economic growth and the European debt crisis. Most of the market analysts and researchers of several major securities companies in South Korea believe that although the shipping market may improve slightly, the overall sluggishness of the shipbuilding industry will continue, and the number of orders in the market will increase slightly compared with 2012, but the total number of shipbuilding orders may fall, and the current situation of low ship prices is difficult to change, and the market value of listed stocks of Korean shipbuilding companies may decline.
A study commissioned by South Korea's Chosun Ilbo and conducted by ENGIDE, a South Korean securities industry intelligence and information company, shows that the profits of large Korean shipping companies will decline in 2013. The study believes that due to the negative economic growth of EU member states due to the European fiscal crisis, the financing capacity of Europe, the center of the international ship financing market, continues to shrink, which will make it difficult to significantly increase the number of new ship orders. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes that several large Korean shipbuilders will strengthen their efforts to capture the market in the field of offshore equipment and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, and global oil and gas development, especially the large-scale development of shale gas and natural gas in the United States, will drive an increase in LNG ship orders.
In contrast, the market outlook of large Korean shipbuilding companies is called "cautious" by the Korean media. Lee Jae-sung, general manager of Hyundai Heavy Industries, said: "The economic downturn in developed countries will continue, the economic growth rate of developing countries will also slow down, and the world economy will enter a stage of low growth, which makes our business environment more difficult. The market of major sectors such as shipbuilding is difficult to get out of the downturn in the short term. The
president of the Korea Shipbuilding Association is Gao Jae-ho, general manager of Daewoo Shipbuilding. On January 10, the Korea Shipbuilding Association held the 2013 Korean shipbuilding industry New Year's group meeting, Gao Jae-ho said at the group meeting that the world economy has entered a stage of low-speed growth, international trade growth has slowed down greatly, the average annual growth rate of world trade in previous years is about 6%, and last year and this year will increase at the level of 2.5~2.6%, which will inevitably lead to a decrease in the growth rate of goods flow in the maritime market, directly affecting the shipbuilding sector. He said: "It is expected that this year will be the most difficult year since the financial crisis, and the overall market environment makes it impossible for us to relieve the 'state of tension' and will not relax at all."
In addition to the above two major shipbuilding companies, the Korean shipbuilding industry's forecast for this year's market is that although the world economy is sluggish, it may improve in the second half of the year, so the shipbuilding market is very likely to show a trend of "low before and high after"; Although the merchant shipping capacity is surplus, the energy-saving and environmentally friendly merchant shipping market is optimistic, and Korean shipbuilding companies have certain technical advantages compared with competitors in this field, so Korean shipbuilding companies are looking forward to making gains in undertaking energy-saving and environmentally friendly merchant ship orders; In addition, the Korean shipbuilding industry has great confidence in the unilateral acceptance of offshore equipment.
In the domestic manufacturing industry, especially in industrial fields such as assembly, dispensing, handling, and welding, robot applications have become a hot spot and a major trend. Some well-known companies have begun to apply robots in large numbers, including Huawei, ZTE, BYD, etc. Foxconn also suspended recruitment and developed a million robot strategy. All this shows that China's robots are getting close to the manufacturing industry and will become a major trend in development.
In addition, the State Council issued the "12th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Strategic Emerging Industries", which also promoted the development of the Chinese market. In hospitals, homes and some service industries, robots are used to accelerate industrial upgrading, and this huge market has also attracted the eyes of domestic and foreign enterprises.
Although China's robot application field is broad, looking at China's robot field, 80% of the market share is still occupied by multinational companies. This market that needs to be broken urgently and has such potential is also a good opportunity for the development of Chinese enterprises. At present, many local governments have introduced corresponding policies, including Shanghai, Kunshan, Tangshan, Chongqing, etc., to introduce R&D and manufacturing enterprises, competing to build a local robot industry and seize the robot market.
The use of industrial robots in China is increasing, and the demand for robots has increased significantly, and it is expected to reach 35,000 units in 2015, becoming the world's largest market. In addition, the current structural shortage of labor and the rising labor costs of manufacturing in China are promoting the development of China's robot industry. The demand for transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry has enabled the development of industrial robots to accelerate.
At present, robots are mainly used in the manufacturing industry, in addition to being used in the field of coal mine brick making, concrete machinery industry, hospitals, households and some service industries, military, scientific research and aerospace and other fields. Although China's robot industry will develop rapidly, due to the lack of autonomous capabilities in key components of robots, such as servo motors, reducers, controllers, sensors, etc. of key components, this will be a challenge that China's robot industry must face.

(Source: Internet)