Even in the recession caused by Corona 19, exports are showing strong performance.
Last month, Korea’s exports increased by double digits, hitting an all-time high among December exports.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 1st that in December last year, exports increased by 12.6% compared to the same period of the previous year to $5.11 billion.
The average daily export value, taking into account the number of working days, also increased by 7.9% to $2.14 billion.
This is the first time since November 2018 that total exports have exceeded $50 billion. Exports in December of last year were the sixth highest monthly performance in history, the highest of all-time exports in December.
Of the 15 major export items, 11 items turned to positives, showing the largest increase since 2019.
In particular, the growth rate of information and communication (IT) items such as semiconductors was remarkable.
In addition to the 30.0% increase in semiconductors, display 28.0%, wireless communication devices 39.8%, home appliances 23.4%, and computers 14.7% showed double-digit growth.
By region, among a total of 9 regions, China (3.3%), the United States (11.6%), the European Union (26.4%), Asia (19.6%), Japan (1.4%), Latin America (20.1%), and India (16.8%) It increased in seven areas including.
Last month, imports increased by 1.8% to $446 billion, and the trade balance was $6.94 billion, continuing a surplus for eight consecutive months.
Last year, total exports decreased by 5.4% to $52.85 billion, and imports decreased by 7.2% to $46.23 billion. The trade balance was $45.6 billion, which was a surplus for 12 consecutive years.
Total exports exceeded 500 billion dollars for 4 consecutive years, but as imports declined, Korea’s trade amount failed to achieve 1 trillion dollars for 4 consecutive years.
The Ministry of Industry analyzed that “annual exports declined, but exports in the fourth quarter and exports in the second half turned positive after two years, respectively, and the recovery after the third quarter is clear.”
In particular, while exports to major countries were also sluggish, Korea’s exports were relatively good.
According to statistics from the World Trade Organization (WTO), as of October last year, Korea was the fourth highest among the top 10 exports in terms of export growth, after China, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.