Popularity in China

 

It has been found that IT products exported from Korea accounted for more than 20% of the Chinese import market for the first time in history last year, which can be attributed to the Chinese government’s policy for the growth of the local IT industry. Experts point out there is still room for improvement though in that Korea’s investment in China is still concentrated on the manufacturing sector.

The Korea International Trade Association announced on January 10 that Korean IT products represented 20.3% (worth US$103.7 billion) of the IT segment of the Chinese import market during the first three quarters of last month. The ratio had remained at 17.6% in 2011 but Korean exporters succeeded in boosting the figure by making use of the Chinese government’s 13.5 Plan for the promotion of the Internet industry. They have retained the top spot in the market since 2013, followed by their Taiwanese counterparts.

Korean IT products’ share in this Chinese market segment is more than double that of overall Korean products in the Chinese market as a whole. Likewise, Korea’s IT product export to China was more than double Japan’s during the same period.

Nonetheless, Korean enterprises’ investment in China is still revolving around the manufacturing sector although China is shifting the focus of its economic growth toward service from manufacturing. The tertiary industry of China accounted for 45.5% of its total GDP in as early as 2012, exceeding the ratio of the secondary industry by a margin of one-half of a percentage point. 

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