4th place in 13 main items
Significant growth in shipping, home appliances, and computers
Rise in US and China… Semiconductors and steel ‘weak’
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Korea’s global market share of 13 major export items rose from 5th to 4th. However, the semiconductor market share, which has the world’s No. 1 competitiveness, has declined.
According to the report titled “Diagnosis of the Competitiveness of Korea’s Main Export Items Before and After the Pandemic” released by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on the 22nd, the global market share of Korea’s 13 major items increased from 4.94% in 2019 to 5.16% last year, fourth place in the world Over the 2020-2021 period of the spread of Corona 19, its share increased by 0.22 percentage points. The world position rose from 5th in 2019 to 4th in 2020, maintaining the same position last year.
In automobiles, ships, petrochemicals, petroleum products, and computers, market shares increased compared to 2019, before the corona, and export competitiveness was strengthened. Cars rose one place from 6 to 5, home appliances from 11 to 9, and computers from 13 to 10.
However, its share of the semiconductor market fell by 0.16 percentage points. The position also dropped from 4th to 5th. The share of steel also fell by 0.58 percentage points, weakening export competitiveness.
The report also found that the export competitiveness of Korea’s main items is strengthening in China and the United States, Korea’s two major export markets. The share of these 13 items in the Chinese import market from January to August was 15.13% (second place), an increase of 0.34 percentage points from last year. Its share in the import market in the United States increased by 0.14 percentage points from last year to 5.61%, maintaining its 5th place for the third consecutive year.
The report analyzed that the reason for the recent decline in China’s exports does not lie in the weakening of export competitiveness, but in China’s shrinking import demand. They found that exports to China fell by US$5.65 billion between April and August due to fluctuating import demand from China. Export growth factors, such as strengthening the export competitiveness of Korean products and product composition in line with trends, also operated, reducing the total decline in exports to 4.48 billion dollars.
Reporter Kim Min-seok
