The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on February 1 that Korea’s exports in January rose 15.2 percent year-on-year to USD 55.3 billion. Imports also grew 35.5 percent to $60.2 billion. The trade balance turned negative to $4.9 billion from greater imports, produced by the steeper slope in energy price hikes.
Monthly exports surpassed the $50 billion mark for the first time for January and posted double-digit growth despite the spread of Omicron, inflation concerns, and supply chain bottlenecks, as well as a high base effect from last year’s sharp growth, and less days operated (minus 0.5 days). The average daily exports for January stand at $2.5 billion, a 17.8 percent increase from the previous year.
Among Korea’s 15 major export items, outbound shipments of the following 14 items recorded growth: semiconductors, petrochemicals, automobiles, general machinery, petroleum products, steel products, wireless communication devices, auto parts, displays, textiles, home appliances, computers, secondary batteries, and bio-health products. Ships were the sole category to see a decrease in exports.
High value-added items such as system semiconductors (up 33.0 percent), electric vehicles (EVs, up 53.0 percent), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs, up 15.7 percent), and bio-health (up 30.0 percent) showed significant rises. Large increases were seen in petrochemicals (up 40.0 percent) and petroleum products (up 88.4 percent), as well as steel (up 50.1 percent) and computers (up 49.4 percent).
Semiconductors exceeded $10 billion for the first time for January monthly exports and posted growth for the 19th consecutive month due to higher fixed price of DRAMs and China’s soaring demand for mobile products. Petrochemicals also recorded a historic high in exports, maintaining double-digit growth for the 12th consecutive month, thanks to the economic rebound in construction, automobiles and such downstream industries, as well as from the surge in oil prices and high demand in China and ASEAN markets.
While the domestic shipbuilding market was smooth sailing, outbound orders of ships were injured by a high base effect of the previous year and order-handover time gap, plunging 77.9 percent.
By region, exports to all major destinations increased. Outbound shipments to China (up 13.1 percent) gained for the 15th consecutive month, due to thriving demand for semiconductors, petrochemicals and wireless communication devices. U.S. (up 1.6 percent) experienced steady demand for Korean automobiles, general machinery, and premium home appliances, advancing for the 17th consecutive month. Exports to ASEAN (up 28.9 percent) broke all past January records, driven by strong demand for semiconductors, petroleum and bio-health products.
Outbound shipments to the EU (up 13.3 percent), Japan (up 16.0 percent), India (up 15.3 percent), GCC (up 25.0 percent), CIS (up 27.7 percent), and Latin America (up 30.7 percent) likewise increased.
Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy