Lotte said on the 16th that it will make early payments totaling 895.7 billion won to 11,155 small and medium-sized partner companies ahead of the Chuseok holiday. The move is meant to ease partners' funding burdens stemming from the recent impact of high inflation and a strong dollar, as well as a temporary increase in expense before the holiday.
Lotte plans to pay the invoices an average of nine days earlier than the original due date. Twenty-three affiliates, including Lotte Construction, Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart and Super, LOTTE Global Logistics, LOTTE Chemical, and LOTTE Wellfood, will take part.
To put co-prosperity between large and small businesses into practice, Lotte has made early payments of supply fees to partners before every holiday season since 2013. It has also created a co-prosperity fund of about 1 trillion won to help partners maintain smooth cash flow, and, as the first large company to do so, introduced a mutual growth payment system across all group companies to pay transaction amounts in cash equivalents.
A Lotte official said, "We hope this early payment of supply fees will help ease partners' funding burdens before the holiday," adding, "Lotte will continue to prepare practical support systems so we can grow together with our partners."