SEOUL, KOREA --- Korea is expected to become the 9th country in the world to achieve a trading volume of 1 trillion dollars, having already surpassed 900billion dollars last month.
Korea Customs Service (KCS) announced that, as of the 10th November, exports and imports measured on a general custom-value basis recorded USD 14,940,000,000 and USD 14,860,000,000 respectively. The total accumulated exports and imports for this year is USD 475,800,000,000 and USD 450,700,000,000 respectively, adding up to a total trade volume of USD 926,500,000,000.
The KCS estimated that Korea should reach the USD 1 trillion mark by the end of this month or by early December, as exports to China, Japan and South East Asia remain strong despite exports to the West have slowed down due to the economic recession. Currently, China is the only country among the emerging countries to surpass a trading volume of USD 1 trillion. Petroleum products, automobile, steel and blasting agents were major export items where as raw material and consumer goods were the major imported commodities.
The export volume of petroleum products for the first ten months this year totaled USD 43 billion, increasing 67.4% compared to the same period last year (25.7billion). Steel (31.7%), petrochemicals (27.8%), automobiles (28.1%), and shipbuilding (19.5%) exports have increased, where as semiconductor exports, which had been the leading exported product slightly dropped to USD 42.4 (-1.3%).
Imports have drastically increased in crude oil (50.6%), mineral resources (52.8%) and automobiles (28.9%). Due to the increase of demand for the iPhone, imports in telecommunication devices have soared by 19.3%.
Exports remained stronger in developing countries (USD 336.1 billion, 22.8%) than in advanced countries (USD 125.7 billion, 17.7%). Also, imports from emerging countries (USD 271.6 billion, 33%) exceeded that of advanced economies (USD 164.3 billion, 15.5%).
Trade Figures for October (USD million)
|
|
2010 |
2011 |
||
|
October |
September |
October |
First 10months |
|
|
Exports (Growth rate) |
USD 43.3 billion(27.6%) |
USD 46.8 billion (18.8%) |
USD 47.4 billion(9.3%) |
USD 463 billion (21.4%) |
|
Imports |
USD 37.0 billion(21.7%) |
USD 45.3 billion(29.3%) |
USD 43.1 billion(16.4%) |
USD 436 million(25.9%) |
|
Trade Balance |
USD 6.3 billlion |
USD 1.6 billion |
USD 4.3 billion |
USD 26.5 billion |
|
Trade Volume |
USD 80.3 billion |
USD 92.1 billion |
USD 90.4 billion |
USD 899 billion |
-Figures based on tentative customs clearance data.
Exports to emerging economies such as ASEAN (25%), CIS (24.4%) and China (25%) showed persistent increase, while exports to advanced nations such as the USA (-7%), EU (-20.4%) decreased with the exception of Japan (25.3%).
The growth rate for imports last month has decreased from more than 20% to 10% due to the drop in capital good imports and the slow down in the imports consumption goods.
Raw material imports including crude oil (52.7%), natural gas (48.6%), and coal (14.0%) have remained strong due to the high oil prices and the increase in import volume. Also, imports of capital goods including semiconductors (-28.5%) decreased, while consumption goods showed a slight increase through such goods such as clothing (38.8%) and meat (29.5%).
Last month’s trade surplus set a record of USD 4.3 billion, increasing by 105.08% (USD 1.7 billion) from the previous month (USD 1.6 billion).
