Exports Drop 20% for 2nd Month
03 June, 2020
Korea's exports have dropped another 20 percent. In line with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Monday, exports in-may fell 23.7 percent on-year to US$34.9 billion. In April exports fell 25.1 percent.
The last time exports declined a lot more than 20 percent for just two months running was in July and August of 2009, through the global financial crisis.
Total imports in May fell 21.1 percent to $34.4 billion, so Korea posted a $440 million trade surplus and is back the black.
Containers are loaded for shipment at a pier in Busan on Monday. /Yonhap
Outbound shipments fell over the board with 16 out of Korea's top 20 exports declining. The most dramatic declines were petroleum products (down 69.9 percent), automotive elements (down 66.7 percent), cars (down 54.1 percent) and textiles (down 43.5 percent).
Car exports took a huge hit from the coronavirus epidemic in major markets including North America and Europe. Petroleum product exports also suffered from lockdowns and falling prices.
But semiconductor exports rose 7.1 percent, ships 35.9 percent, computers 82.7 percent and bio-health products 59.4 percent. Increasing demand for computer parts was due to more telecommuting, video conferencing and online shopping amid the epidemic. Bio-health product exports grew, as a result of rising demand for quarantine and medical products.
The government hopes exports will rebound if the epidemic eases, but authorities think a recovery is unlikely any moment in the future since the competitiveness of Korea's key exports was weakening even prior to the epidemic.
Source:
TAG(s):