Attaining US$50 Bil. Milestone for 2 Consecutive Years
South Korea’s general machinery exports for this year have been tentatively estimated at US$52.5 billion, surpassing the US$50 billion mark for two consecutive years. Last year’s machinery exports reached US$53.6 billion.
Export data released by the Korea Customs Service showed Korea’s general machinery exports, including construction equipment, machine tools, metallic mold, and agricultural equipment passed the US$50 billion mark for the first time last year. Korea accomplished the US$40 billion milestone in 2011.
General machinery has become Korea’s third major export item after semiconductors and petroleum products to surpass the US$50 billion threshold for the second consecutive year.
However, by region, general machinery exports showed a year-on-year decline in major markets such as China, the United States, the European Union, Vietnam, Japan, and India. Particularly, exports fell sharply in China (-9.6 percent) and India (-8.5 percent).
By item, export decline was particularly sharp for construction machinery (-15.4 percent), cooling/heating/air conditioning equipment (-26 percent), machinery tools (-8.8 percent), metallic mold (-3.2 percent), and agricultural equipment (-4.1 percent).
“Due to the base effect of last year’s good performance, machinery exports dropped from a year ago in general,” said an official of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. “This year, exports were led by chemical industrial equipment, which was boosted by oil fields development in Kazakhstan.”