Balance in Export Regions and Items Getting Worse

Despite the government’s policy to raise world-class products for the purpose of multilateralizing export markets and dissolving biased export products, imbalance of exportation areas and export products are proven to be aggravating.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE)’s briefing on “Recent trends of exportation,” which was submitted to Grand National Party lawmaker and a member of Industrial Resources Committee in the National Assembly Representative Park Soon-ja, average exports amount to Asia and North America for the last three years (2001 – 2003) reached 69.4 percent of the total average export amount.

The bias rates on these regions are steadily growing, from 68.6 percent in 2001, 69.2 percent in 2002, and eventually 70.3 percent last year.

Moreover, the proportion of top-five export items such as semiconductors, automobiles, mobile phones, computers, and shipping continued to increase: 38.9 percent in 2001, 42.4 percent in 2002, and 43.2 percent in 2003, which shows that exportation is becoming more focused on these items. In particular, the proportion of these five items in the first half of this year reached 44.7 percent out of total exportation values.

Meanwhile, the attraction of foreign investments from 2000 through 2003 showed to have decreased sharply.

The foreign investment amount towards our nation was $15.217 billion in 2000; however, this amount gradually decreased to $11.292 billion in 2001, $9.101 billion in 2002, and $6.468 billion in 2003. The amount of foreign investment attraction in 2003 reduced to 57.7 percent compared to figures in 2000.

Especially in the manufacturing sector, the foreign investment drastically reduced by 75.2 percent in 2003 compared to 2000, whose figures show $6.848 billion in 2000, $2.911 billion in 2001, $2.336 billion in 2002, and $1.697 billion in 2003.

The investment amount from the United States showed increases from 2000-2002, with $2.921 billion in 2000, $3.889 billion in 2001, and $4.050 billion in 2002; however, investment amount sharply decreased last year, to $1.240 billion.

Min-Hyuk Park mhpark@donga.com