Slow Korean Export Growth May Affect International Trades

Exports from South Korea to China has decreased, as well as the shipments of semiconductor that added concerns to the progress of global trade amid the economic conflict between the US and Beijing.

The preliminary trade data from the period of November 1 to 20 has shown a decline of 4.3 percent in exports to China, which has been the first decline outside the holiday since late 2016. It follows a decline for seven consecutive months higher than the 20 percent in the early readings.

Moreover, the growth of chip exports has also declined to 3.5 percent in comparison to the gains estimated to be at 35 percent for every month from January to September of 2018. This implies a faster decline in the global tech sector where Korea has been the main supplier.

The preliminary data did not exactly match the final output to this year with 2017 which may raise a slight concern. In general, exports were recorded to grow by 5.7 percent for the first 20 days of November than last year.

In case the whole-moth figure did not turn our positively, this reflects the status of China’s economy in a poor performance since November that is “worrisome”, according to an economist at Meritz Securities Co. in Seoul, Stephen Lee.