Lotte is moving to ease funding strains at partner firms ahead of the Chuseok holiday. Lotte said on Tuesday it will make early payments of 949.5 billion won for deliveries to about 12,000 partner firms.

The payments involve 27 affiliates including Lotte Department Store, Lotte Engineering & Construction, Lotte Global Logistics and Lotte Home Shopping. The participating affiliates plan to pay by an average of 8 days earlier than originally scheduled, before the Chuseok holiday period.

Lotte has made early payments every year since 2013 to more than 10,000 partner firms. It is a support measure for partner firms that face higher costs ahead of traditional holidays.

Lotte is also providing support aimed at shared growth with partner firms. It created a co-prosperity fund worth about 1 trillion won to reduce the burden of securing operating funds. It is paying transaction amounts in cash-equivalent form by introducing a shared-payment settlement system across the group, the first among large companies.

Lotte has held the "Lotte-ROK Brand Expo" since 2016 to support partner firms' overseas expansion. As of May, about 1,600 small and medium-sized companies took part in a total of 22 events. Participating companies recorded consultation results worth about $1.2 billion.

A Lotte official said, "Ahead of Chuseok, we hope this early payment of delivery amounts will be of practical help in easing the burden on partner firms." The official added, "We will continue to steadily carry out various co-prosperity activities so that we can build a healthy industrial ecosystem together with our partner firms."