Lotte will bring forward payments to partner firms ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Lotte said on Monday it will pay supply payments worth 10.7 trillion won early to about 13,000 partner firms. A total of 27 affiliates will participate, including Lotte Department Store, Lotte Engineering & Construction, Lotte Home Shopping and Lotte Innovate. It plans to make payments by an average of 8 days earlier than scheduled, before the Lunar New Year holiday.

Lotte has made early payments each year since 2013 to partner firms including large and small and medium-sized companies. It said it aims to provide practical help to partner firms, build healthy partnerships and take part in boosting the domestic economy.

It also runs various support programs for shared growth with partner firms. It created a shared growth fund worth about 1 trillion won to ease partner firms' burden in securing operating funds. It said it became the first large company to introduce a win-win settlement system across its group affiliates, paying transaction amounts in cash-equivalent form.

It is also supporting partner firms' overseas expansion. Since 2016, it has hosted the Lotte-Korea Brand Expo to provide export opportunities. About 1,500 small and medium-sized companies participated through last year, holding about 20,000 export consultations. It recorded consultation results worth about $1.2 billion, or 1.7 trillion won.

A Lotte official said, "We decided to pay supply payments early to ease the increased burden on partner firms ahead of the holiday." The official added, "We will overcome difficult times together and will continue to strive for sustainable growth with partner firms through effective win-win activities."