Exports to Korea recorded negative for the second consecutive year following 2019 in the aftermath of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) last year.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 1st, last year’s total annual exports amounted to 5128 billion dollars, down 5.4% from the previous year. It has surpassed $500 billion for four consecutive years, but has stepped back for the second consecutive year following 2019 (-10.4%).
Income decreased by 7.2% to 467.23 billion dollars. As a result, the amount of trade failed to reach $1 trillion.
Exports suffered last year due to the continued low oil prices and the direct hit of Corona 19. As a result of the global corona 19 pandemic, major countries’ lockdown measures disrupted production and reduced consumption, blocking the export route of representative items.
Exports, which had endured well in January-February, in the early days of Corona 19, entered a full-fledged sphere of influence from March and turned to a decline from the same period last year. Since then, it has continued a negative march for six consecutive months since April, which spread to a global pandemic, and then rebounded for the first time since the full-fledged corona 19 in September. Since then, exports have grown down to November (4.1%) and December (12.6%), excluding October when the number of working days was short.
Total exports increased for the second consecutive month in 25 months, and the double-digit increase in total exports was the first in 26 months.
In particular, exports in December were $51.01 billion, exceeding $50 billion in 25 months, and at the same time the highest in December. The average daily export value ($2.14 billion) also reached the highest this year.
An official from the Ministry of Industry explained, “Annual exports declined, but exports in the fourth quarter (+4.2%) and exports in the second half (+0.4%) turned positive after two years, respectively, and there is a clear recovery after the third quarter.”
Last year, while overall export conditions were difficult, flagship items such as semiconductors, computers, biohealth, and rechargeable batteries performed well.
Semiconductor exports recorded 991 billion dollars, a 5.6% increase over the previous year, the second-best performance ever, following 126.7 billion dollars in 2018, and computers increased 57.2% from the previous year, showing the highest growth rate since 1999. Biohealth surpassed $10 billion for the first time in history, and entered the top 10 items for the first time this year, and rechargeable batteries broke the annual high for 5 consecutive years.
It is evaluated that it has achieved qualitative growth in terms of discovering new growth export items and upgrading export items. New growth export items such as system semiconductors, diagnostic kits, eco-friendly vehicles (electric vehicles + hydrogen vehicles), cosmetics, and agricultural and fishery products all achieved the highest annual export performance.
Thanks to this, even though the international oil price dropped (-33.6%), the export unit price increased (+0.6%) in two years. Korea’s exports, which showed their potential despite Corona 19, are expected to rise in earnest this year thanks to the recovery of the global economy and trade economy.
Major trading organizations predicted that exports to Korea will grow by 6.0% to 7.0% this year. The global economic recovery, improvement of the trade environment, a gradual rise in oil prices, and a base effect from a decline in exports this year are expected to work positively. It is expected that exports of IT and bio products will continue to show strong growth due to the corona 19 effect, while major items such as automobiles, auto parts, petrochemicals, and petroleum products support semiconductors.
However, anxiety factors also exist. Corona 19 re-proliferation, conflict between the US and China, and continued protectionism are likely to limit export recovery.
Minister of Industry Sung Yun-mo visited the Incheon New Port Hanjin Container Terminal, the gateway port in the metropolitan area, to inspect the export logistics site on the same day, and said, “If the global economy and trade economy gradually recover, we expect our exports to improve from last year.” “Even with the uncertainty of external conditions such as whether to overcome Corona 19, the expansion of global protectionism, and the launch of a new US government, we will take full action so that this year will become a year of exports and economic re-leap beyond the export plus transition,” he said.
Reporter Park Soo-jin [email protected]