Global Trade Position
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, announced on August 27 that South Korea contributed to 4% of global commodity exports last year and the country accounted for approximately 3% of global commodity imports during the same period.
In 2016, Mainland China represented 17% of global commodity exports to top the list and the United States was the largest commodity importer. China was followed by the EU (15.6%) and the United States (13.6%).
Japan recorded a ratio of 5.2% and South Korea recorded 4.0% while the three regions’ ratio to the total commodity exports amounted to 46.2% as explained above. Japan’s ratio increased by 0.3 percentage points from a year ago whereas that of South Korea edged down by one-tenth of a percentage point.
When it comes to commodity imports, the U.S. accounted for 17.6%, followed by the EU (14.8%) and China (12.4%). Those of South Korea and Japan were 3.2% and 4.7%, respectively. South Korea’s ratio edged down by 0.1 percentage point and Japan’s did not change when compared to 2015.