Another Record Year
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on January 1 that Korea’s exports and imports for this year are forecast to increase 6.4% and 9.0% year-on-year to US$595.5 billion and US$562 billion, respectively. It added that international raw materials prices are likely to show some stability amid improvements in consumer sentiments, leading to a higher growth rate on the import side.
According to the ministry, the exports of ships, wireless communication devices, automobiles, general machinery, and petrochemical products are expected to increase at least 4%, while those of auto parts, computers, consumer electronics, textiles, steel, and semiconductor products would grow less than that. By region, the exports to China, North America, and many Asian countries are showing positive signs unlike those to Japan.
In 2013, Korea’s yearly exports grew 2.2% from a year earlier to US$559.7 billion, whereas the imports fell 0.8% to US515.5 billion to add up to a trade surplus of US$44.2 billion. It set new records in terms of total exports and trade surplus alike, to record US$1 trillion in trade volume for three years in a row. The previous records were US$555.2 billion and US$41.2 billion in 2011 and 2010 each.
The list of export growth rate by destination was topped by China (8.6%), which was followed by the United States (6.0%), and Southeast Asia (3.6%). Meanwhile, the exports to Japan and the EU region dropped by 10.6% and 1.0%, respectively. The ratio of exports to China to the total export amount went up from 24.5% to 26.1% between 2012 and 2013, but Japan’s ratio fell 0.9 percentage points to 6.2% during the same period.
Last year, the export of wireless communication devices (21.2%), home electronics (16.8%), and semiconductors (13.3%) showed significant growth along with petrochemical goods (5.5%) and automobiles (3.1%). However, those of steel and computers declined by 11.9% and 7.9% each. Semiconductors accounted for 10.2% of the total export amount, thanks to the increasing demand for mobile devices and an increase in the prices of memory and NAND flash chips, beating petrochemical products (9.4%) to regain the top spot of the major export item list in three years.
In the meantime, Korea recorded a trade surplus of US$60.6 billion in China and US$19.9 billion in the US, raising the sums from US$53.5 billion and US$15.2 billion of 2012. Its deficit vis-à-vis Japan decreased slightly from US$25.6 billion to US$24.6 billion. The exports and imports for December 2013 increased 7.1% and 3.0% to US$48.1 billion and US$44.4 billion, respectively. The trade surplus was US$3.7 billion in that month, remaining in the black for 23 consecutive months, since February 2012.