The WTO announced on Feb. 28 that South Korea’s goods exports totaled US$512.498 billion last year, ranking seventh in the world, and it came in ninth in terms of total trade value to show no change in each of the rankings. In 2020, its exports decreased 5.5 percent from a year ago whereas the ratio of its exports to the global total exports rose from 2.9 percent to 3.1 percent. Last year, China and Hong Kong increased their exports 3.7 percent and 2.6 percent year on year, respectively. Those from the Netherlands decreased 4.8 percent and re-export accounted for 89 percent and 44 percent of Hong Kong’s and the Netherlands’ exports, respectively.
Exports from the United States and France fell 12.9 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively. Those from Japan, Germany and Belgium went down 9.1 percent, 7.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. According to the WTO, the top 10 exporting countries’ goods exports added up to US$9,183.7 billion last year, down 5.1 percent from a year earlier. However, those of China increased 3.7 percent to US$2,591.121 billion. China is followed by the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Italy, France and Belgium. Hong Kong and France exchanged their rankings and the United Kingdom fell from 10th.