Exposure to China Growing
Korea’s dependence on China for major raw materials for semiconductors has soared over the past five years.
According to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Sept. 20, Korea's imports of silicon wafer, hydrogen fluoride, neon, krypton, and xenon from China surged between 2018 and July 2022.
Korea’s total imports of the five semiconductor raw materials stood at US$1,810.75 million in 2018, US$1,881.56 million in 2019, US$1.691.1 million in 2020, US$1,944.79 million in 2021 and US$1,550.17 million from January to July 2022.
During the same period, Korea’s imports of the five items from China ascended from US$139.81 million in 2018 to US$167.39 million in 2019 and US$184.79 million in 2021. This year, they stood at US$377.97 million in the January-July period, posting an increase of 170 percent from the total in 2018.
China's share of Korea's imports of the five items stood at 7.7 percent in 2018, 8.9 percent in 2019, 8.3 percent in 2020, and 9.5 percent in 2021 and 24.4 percent from January and July 2022. The percentage nearly tripled in five years.
In the case of silicon wafers, China share rose from 3 percent in 2018 to 6 percent in 2019, then 5 percent in 2020 and 6 percent last year, but then surged to 10 percent from January to July this year.
China’s share of Korea’s total hydrogen fluoride imports rose from 52 percent in 2018 and 51 percent in 2019 to 75 percent in 2020 after Japan’s curb on exports of the five to Korea. It rose to 70 percent in 2021 and 78 percent during the January-July period of this year.
Korea became more dependent on China for rare gases, such as neon, krypton, and xenon. Korea’s neon imports from China stood at only US$1.47 million in 2018, but ballooned about 100 times in five years to US$142.48 million from January through July 2022. Neon imports from China accounted for only 18 percent in 2018, but 84 percent in 2022.
Krypton imports from China surged about 300 times in five years, from US$60,000 in 2018 to US$20.39 million in the January-July period of 2022. China's proportion in Korea's total krypton imports also increased from 13 percent to 31 percent.
Korea’s xenon imports from China also swelled about 30 times from US$1.8 million to US$53.13 million, and China's share climbed from 5 percent to 37 percent.