South Korea's energy to lubes conglomerate SK Group has posted record exports during a postive start to the year.
Manufacturing exports for the company in Q1 hit KRW8.9tr ($8.2bn) on total sales for the Group of KRW14.5tr ($13.5bn) and accounted for nearly 62% of sales volume, a record for SK.
Exports were up more than 41% on the same period last year and reflects the company's policy of moving away from domestic markets to boost profits. Although SK's flagship operation, SK Telecom, remains predominantly focused on home sales, other parts of the group, including SK Energy, SK Global Chemical and SK Lubricants pushed their products overseas.
The company, which had spun-off some of its core units earlier this year, highlighted its "world-class refinery" operations as one of the key drivers for the positive export figures and stated it intends to invest KRW17.5tr ($16.4bn) over the next 10 years in its three core businesses.