To China Down, to US Up
One in five Korean exporters actually dialed up their exports over the past three years despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey.
According to the survey on changes in exports before and after the pandemic released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on July 30, 20.2 percent of the companies in the survey said their export volume swelled when comparing their exports in the first half of this year with before the start of the pandemic in 2019. The survey was conducted among 1,222 manufacturers of export products nationwide.
Companies cited active overseas sales activities (34.0 percent) as the largest factor in their export growth. As the pandemic reorganized the export market, proactive marketing for buyers unfamiliar with Korean products played a major role, they said. A small Korean cosmetics company increased sales of its eco-friendly products by more than 40 percent through active product promotion in the U.S. market. The company also expanded sales activities for overseas influencers to target Southeast Asia.
Other factors that contributed to the increase in their exports included increasing order volumes from existing customers (28.0 percent), developing new export products (27.8 percent), securing technological advantages (25.8 percent), securing price competitiveness by reducing unit costs (18.9 percent), and domestic customers’ advancement into overseas markets (7.3 percent).
More companies (36.3 percent) reported a decrease in export volumes. Companies cited reduced order volumes from existing customers (64.1 percent) as the main reason.
Many companies (24.0 percent) also said that they lost a price war to their competitors. Policies and regulations in export markets were blamed according to 14.4 percent of companies.
The largest number (39.4 percent) of the companies said that their exports to China dropped compared to the pre-COVID-19 period.
Conversely, 29.0 percent said that their exports to the United States increased, ranking the United States first among countries which posted an increase in imports from Korea compared to the pre-COVID-19 period.