Overview Of Import And Export In 2019 And December

The Ministry of industry and Commerce of Korea announced the "import and export trend of (2019) year and December" (January 1st to December 31st and from December 1st to 31st Customs Statistics). The total export volume of Korea (2019) was about 542 billion 410 million US dollars, 10.3% lower than the previous year, and the import amount was about 503 billion 230 million US dollars, a decrease of 6% compared with the previous year. The trade surplus was about 39 billion 190 million US dollars, and maintained a favorable balance for 11 consecutive years. The total trade volume was 1 trillion US dollars, less than the previous year.

Last year, despite the deterioration of the environment due to the US mainland trade conflict, Japan's export control measures to the Republic of Korea, the Brexit and the big demonstrations in Hongkong, the total trade volume of South Korea in 2019 continued to exceed 1 trillion dollars for 3 consecutive years. At present, the total volume of Global trade over 1 trillion dollars for 3 consecutive years is only 9 in China, the United States, Germany, Japan, Holland, France, the United Kingdom, Hongkong, South Korea and Italy.

(1) general situation of exports

Compared with the previous year, the 13 major export items of the Republic of Korea (January 1st to December 31st Customs Statistics) in 2019 were only 5.3% of the total exports of automobiles, while exports of other items decreased. The exports of general machinery decreased by 1.8%, auto parts reduced by 2.5%, household appliances decreased by 3.6%, ships decreased by 5.1%, textile categories decreased by 7.9%, steel decreased by 8.5%, petroleum products reduced by 12.3%, petroleum chemistry reduced by 14.8%, monitors reduced 17%, wireless communication machines reduced, computers reduced, and semiconductors reduced.

Compared with the previous year, exports to major regions increased by 0.9% in the main export areas (from January 1st to December 31st), while exports to the United States increased by only 0.9%, while exports to Vietnam decreased by 0.9%, exports to India decreased by 3.2%, to ASEAN countries (ASEAN) by 5%, to Central and South America by 5.2%, to Japan by 6.9%, to the European Union (EU) by 8.4%, to mainland China by 16%, and by the Middle East by 18.5%.

In addition to the 13 major export projects in from December 1st to 31st (from December 1st to 31st), compared with the same month in December, the export of computers increased by 35.2%, exports of steel increased by 7.7%, general machinery increased by 4.2%, automobile parts increased by 4.1%, household appliances increased by 1.3%, and automobiles increased by 0.3%. Textile exports decreased by 3.5%, petrochemicals decreased by 5.9%, petroleum products decreased by 7.1%, monitors decreased by degrees, wireless communications machines decreased, and semiconductors reduced, and ships reduced.

On the main export areas (the Provisional Statistics on customs clearance in from December 1st to 31st), exports to the Middle East increased by 18.3% and exports to the mainland increased by 3.3%, exports to the United States decreased by 0.4%, exports to Vietnam decreased by 5.3%, Japan to 5.6%, to central and South America, 6.9%, to ASEAN countries (ASEAN) by 9.8%, to India by 15.1% and to the European Union (EU) by 20.3%.

(two) general situation of imports

Imports of import items in 2019 (statistics from January 1st to December 31st) only increased imports of consumer goods by 1.7%, imports of intermediate goods decreased by 3.1%, materials from the plateau decreased by 10.1% and capital goods decreased by 15.4%. Among them, the importation of major energy and resources projects (the provisional value of customs statistics from January 1st to December 31st) was 10.7% lower than that of the previous year, 12.7% for Plateau oil, 14.9% for coal and 18.2% for petroleum products.

In December 2019, imports of consumer goods increased by 12.1% compared with the same month in 2019 and 2.5% of capital gains, while imports of intermediate goods and raw materials decreased by 2.9% and 4.5% respectively. (Provisional Statistics on customs clearance in from December 1st to 31st). Among them, the import situation of major energy and resources projects, only the export of petroleum products increased by 9.1% compared with the same month last year. The imports of Plateau oil decreased by 6.7% compared with the same month last year, 14.4% of gas and 20.4% of coal. The other 5 exports of consumer goods with export potential increased by 28.8%, cosmetics and aquatic products increased by 18.1% and pharmaceuticals increased by 10.2%, while daily necessities decreased by 5.3% and fashion clothes decreased by 6.3% (the provisional value of Customs Statistics in from December 1st to 31st).

According to the Ministry of industry and Commerce resources of Korea, although the recovery of Korean semiconductor and petroleum products exports was delayed in December, the export of ships also decreased. However, because of the first stage trade agreement between the United States and the mainland of China, the recovery of exports to mainland China, and the peak shopping season at the end of the year, the sales of IT projects were good, and so on, and the export reduction situation was greatly improved. On the other hand, the South Korean government will fully launch the support export mechanism in the first half of this (2020) year, with a view to promoting the growth of exports in the first quarter of this year, and the improvement of global economy and trade, the recovery of the semiconductor industry, the recovery of oil price and exchange rate in the past year, and the expected export growth this year will be 3% higher than that of last year.