Growing China Risks
South Korea’s heavy reliance on Chinese industrial raw materials is posing increasing risks, examples of which include the ongoing urea solution shortage.
According to the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea is currently depending on one exporting country for more than 80 percent of its imports when it comes to 3,942 import items. The items include 1,850 from China, 503 from the United States and 438 from Japan.
The 1,850 import items include magnesium ingots, which are essential for aluminum alloy production for vehicle weight reduction and so on. South Korea’s dependence on China is 100 percent as for this item. The Chinese government is currently controlling magnesium ingot production with regard to power shortages and a shortage is already occurring in South Korea.
The dependence amounts to 94.7 percent in the case of tungsten oxide for use in medical devices, semiconductor chips and so on. It is 83.5 percent in the case of lithium hydroxide, which is essential for electric vehicle batteries. In addition, neodymium permanent magnets from China accounted for 86.2 percent of South Korea’s total neodymium permanent magnet imports in the first three quarters of this year.