The Korea International Trade Association announced that South Korea’s exports and imports for this year are estimated at US$636.2 billion and US$605.7 billion, up 24.1 percent and 29.5 percent from a year ago, respectively. “Exports exceeded US$500 billion for the fifth consecutive year and the trade value exceeded US$1 trillion in two years,” it said, adding, “For the first nine months of this year, South Korea’s exports increased 26.2 percent year on year, which is the third-highest in the group of states with a trade value of more than US$1 trillion.” The two states that surpassed South Korea are China and Italy, whose exports increased 33 percent and 27.7 percent, respectively. This year, South Korea’s petrochemical exports are expected to increase 53.9 percent, followed by steel (29 percent), wireless communication equipment (28.1 percent), semiconductor (24 percent) and automobile (23.5 percent).
“The contribution of the eight new industries of South Korea to its total exports is expected to increase this year, led by exports from the biotech and healthcare sector and green car exports,” it went on to say, continuing, “The contribution was 18.3 percent for the first 10 months of this year whereas it was 13.6 percent in 2018 and exports from the eight sectors increased 32.9 percent in that period, when South Korea’s total exports increased 26.2 percent.” The eight sectors are next-generation semiconductor, biotech and healthcare, next-generation display, green car, energy, advanced material, aviation and aerospace, and robot. When it comes to the sectors, electric vehicle exports increased 44 percent year on year, followed by OLED (41.2 percent), system-on-chip (31.5 percent), biotech and healthcare (21 percent) and secondary battery (17.8 percent). According to the association, South Korea’s exports and imports are estimated to reach US$649.8 billion and US$615.4 billion next year, respectively.