April 09, 1999
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| April 09, 1999 | atimes.com | |
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| The Koreas Korean export recovery expected to continue SEOUL - Whether or not South Korea's exports have recovered from their continued slump since the foreign exchange crisis broke out in late 1997 has become the focus of national attention. Exports began to plunge from May last year and continued to slide through December. They rebounded in January by rising 3.9 percent year-on-year, but dropped 16 percent in February. In March, exports recorded a slight fall of 1.9 percent to $11.77 billion, beating earlier projections of a 7-8 percent slide. Furthermore, exports actually grew 2.8 percent last month if gold and idle plant exports, amounting to $550 million, in March last year are taking into account. If such a criterion is applied to the total in January, exports increased 13.9 percent and dropped only 3.9 percent in February, showing overall growth of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, officials at the Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry said. The performance has been attributed to improved international markets for Korean products and bolstered exports of key products in tandem with a number of domestic factors, including lowered interest rates and stable wage levels. The booming U.S. economy, which grew 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter last year, and improved markets for Korean products in Japan and Southeast Asia, have done their share in boosting exports, the sources noted. By sector, exports to Southeast Asia were up 13 percent in March, to the United States up 10.2 percent and to Japan 6.2 percent. Those to China, however, declined 1.2 percent and a sluggish export performance was seen in the European Union. Strong exports of semiconductors, 64-M DRAM chips in particular, are projected this year with overseas shipments to rise 14 percent. A number of core products are showing clear signs of recovery including ships and cars. Chip exports rose 13 percent, ships 5.8 percent, autos 2.4 percent and textiles 12.3 percent in March. A government source forecast that Korean exports would continue their recovery throughout the year although a number of soft shocks like hikes in oil prices, delayed swaps of businesses among large conglomerates and the weakened yen and possible devaluation of the Chinese yuan could hamper them. (Asia Pulse/Yonhap) | |||||||||
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