High Concentration
The Korea Economic Research Institute of the Federation of Korean Industries announced on April 2 that South Korea's export item concentration in terms of the 2020 to 2022 average is 779.3 points, the highest among the world's top 10 exporters (548.1 on average). The second is Japan (753), followed by China (640.2), Canada (621.5), Belgium (584.1), and Germany (529.7).
According to the institute, this is because South Korea is highly reliant on electrical device and equipment exports and automobile exports. In the three-year period, those exports accounted for 20.2 percent and 10.5 percent of South Korea’s total exports, respectively.
When it comes to the ratio of top 10 item exports, South Korea’s amounted to 68.7 percent whereas the average of the top 10 exporters was 58.8 percent.
South Korea’s exports are lopsided in terms of destinations as well. At 1,019 points, South Korea's export destination concentration is second only to Canada's (5,734.4) among the world's top 10 exporters (1,214.7 on average). The third is Japan (971), followed by the Netherlands (863.7), Belgium (779), the United States (729.9), and China (562.5).
“Approximately 40 percent of South Korea’s exports go to China and the United States,” the institute said, adding, “In 2020 to 2022, China accounted for 24.5 percent and the United States accounted for 15.2 percent of South Korea's exports.”