The number of Korea’s No. 1 items in the global export market in 2019 recorded 69 items, an increase of 7 compared to the previous year. The world ranking was 11th, up two places from the previous year.
According to the Institute for International Trade and Trade of the Korea International Trade Association on the 7th, 16 items newly entered Korea’s number one export item in 2019 and nine items were eliminated.
By industry, the items that were eliminated from the top were chemical products (2) and non-magnetic machinery (2). The total export value of the nine items that were eliminated from the first place was calculated as 0.35% of the total exports. The export value of each item was also found to be less than 1 billion dollars.
Industries that have newly entered the No. 1 category include steel and non-ferrous metals (7), chemical products (2), non-magnetic machinery (2), and electronic machinery (2). Among them, four items, including SSD ($4.71 billion) and other metal oxide salts ($1.96 billion), recorded more than $1 billion in exports, and were identified as major export items in Korea. SSD, a large-capacity storage device that uses ultra-high-speed semiconductor memory as a storage medium, expanded its exports based on the recent rapid growth, and in 2020 for the first time exceeded $10 billion in exports, becoming Korea’s next-generation export engine.
The 11th place in the world was the highest since the survey of items with the largest market share in Korea’s global export market. The number of top-ranked items in Canada (-14) and the UK (-5), which ranked 11th and 12th, respectively, in 2018 decreased, while the number of exports in Korea increased.
Meanwhile, the country with the largest number of items in the world’s export market share was China, which remained unchanged for five years in a row. The number of China’s No. 1 items was 1,759, an increase of 43 compared to the previous year.
Reporter Ahn Jae-gyun [email protected]
Kiho Ilbo, KIHOILBO