More than 16% Increase
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy analyzed WTO data and announced on October 17 that the global total commodity exports added up to US$10.5 trillion, up 9% from a year ago, for the first eight months of this year and the total exports from South Korea increased 16.4% year on year to US$375.1 billion during the same period.
The rate of increase in the exports from South Korea was the highest in the world during the period. It was followed by the Netherlands (12%), Japan (8.3%), Hong Kong (8.2%) and China (7.6%).
As a result, South Korea became the sixth-largest exporter in the world by moving up two notches. The top five was China (US$1.4366 trillion), the United States (US$1.0094 trillion), Germany (US$934.6 billion), Japan (US$451.5 billion) and the Netherlands (US$413.8 billion).
“Those improvements can be attributed to the recovery of advanced and emerging economies and the boom in the IT industry during the period,” the ministry explained, adding, “Still, the increase in exports is likely to slow down with time due to the ongoing spread of trade protectionism, an increase in the number of holidays, and so on.”