The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on February 1 that Korea’s exports in January fell 16.6 percent year-on-year to USD 46.3 billion. Imports also shrank 2.6 percent to $59.0 billion. Trade balance stood at a deficit of $12.7 billion.
The exports decline is attributed to high inflation, high interest rates and other negative factors currently affecting the global economy, as well as a high base effect from previous year’s record-breaking January exports.
Semiconductor exports (down 44.5 percent to $4.8 billion), petrochemicals (down 25.0 percent to $3.8 billion), displays (down 36.0 percent to $1.3 billion) and steel (down 25.9 percent to $2.7 billion) exports suffered mainly due to the downturn in global demand.
Core semiconductor parts like DRAM, NAND and memory chips plunged in price as demand weakened and backlog piled up, heavily damaging overall chip exports. System chips, which had been posting robust growth for a continued season, turned negative in January.
Display exports cratered from the falling unit prices of OLED products, triggered by enhanced productivity amidst the economic slowdown. Home appliances exports were impeded as high interest rates dragged down spending in developed countries.
Meanwhile, automobiles and petroleum products achieved double-digit growth in January. Secondary batteries, wireless communication devices and shipbuilding sectors also experienced positive growth.
Automobiles (up 21.9 percent to $5.0 billion) recorded historic highs for January exports as eco-friendly cars, SUVs and high value-added vehicles as widening demand drove up unit export prices.
The shipbuilding industry (up 86.3 percent to $1.4 billion) saw exports grow on the backs of expanding overseas demand for large container ships and LNG carriers.
Wireless communication devices (up 17.9 percent to $1.6 billion) recorded growth for the first time in 10 months, thanks to demand fueled by upcoming release of a new smartphone model.
By region, exports to the EU (up 0.2 percent to $5.4 billion) and GCC (up 4.0 percent to $1.5 billion) rose, while those to other regions decreased, owing to global inflation, austerity measures and sluggish growth.
Outbound shipments to China (down 31.4 percent to $9.2 billion), the U.S. (down 6.1 percent to $8.1 billion), ASEAN (down 19.8 percent to $8.3 billion), Japan (down 12.7 percent to $2.3 billion), and Latin America (down 25.0 percent to $1.7 billion) diminished.
Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy