Korea Ranks 13th in World with 63 No. 1 Export Items

Korea's semiconductors, fine chemical materials and flat-rolled steel products  ranked top in the global export market for five consecutive years, showing their robust competitiveness.

According to a report issued by the Institute for International Trade of the Korea International Trade Association on April 24, the number of Korea’s top-ranked export items in 2018 was 63, a decrease of 12 from the previous year, putting the nation 13th in rank.

Of those, 32 items, including the country’s major export products such as semiconductors, fine chemical raw materials, and flat-rolled steel products, have maintained the top position for five consecutive years since 2014.

By item, chemical products (27) and steel and non-ferrous metals (12) had the most items in first places.

Thirty-five out of the 63 number one items were closely followed by China (13 items), the United States (8 items), Germany (7 items), and Japan (7 items) who were in second spots. For 10 of those, the market share gap was less than 5 percentage points. Nineteen items that ranked first in 2017 lost their top positions in 2018 and 12 of them were taken by major countries such as China, Japan, the United States, and Germany.

Among the major countries, China stood out. It took first place with 1,735 top-ranked export items, 38 more than the previous year. The number of global number one export items of Germany (685 items, -7), the United States (511 items, -21), Italy (215 items, -1), and Japan (162 items, -7) placed in second to fifth spots decreased year-on-year.

Kang Sung-eun, a researcher at the institute, said, “China has begun to show its competitiveness in the fields of chemicals, machine tools, and transportation machinery that advanced countries have been strong in,” and added, “The competition between major countries in the global export market is getting fierce. It is time for Korea to improve its product competitiveness and further differentiate its export strategies.”

 

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