Impact of Boycott Movement... Sharp Drop in Japan Consumer Goods Import Share

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[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The proportion of consumer goods imported from Japan has significantly decreased due to the boycott movement against Japanese products.

According to the Manufacturing Domestic Supply Index from the Statistics Korea on the 27th, the share of Japanese consumer goods in the total imported consumer goods supplied domestically in the fourth quarter of last year was 2.9%. This is the lowest level since the related statistics began to be compiled in the first quarter of 2010.

The share of Japanese consumer goods such as beer, automobiles, motorcycles, sake, cigarettes, processed foods, and cosmetics has steadily declined since the first quarter of 2010 (8.6%), recording 4.4% in the first and second quarters of last year. After the export restrictions against Korea were implemented, the share dropped to 3.9% in the third quarter and fell to the 2% range in the fourth quarter.

The proportion of consumer goods imported from China and the United States increased relatively. The share of Chinese consumer goods rose from 24.1% in the third quarter of last year to 29.3% in the fourth quarter, while that of American goods increased from 15.9% to 17.0%.

The decrease in imports of Japanese goods due to the boycott movement continues this year as well. According to consumer goods import performance data submitted by the Korea Customs Service to Kim Jung-woo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, the import value of Japanese consumer goods last month was $19.368 million (approximately 229.3 billion KRW), down 35.9% compared to the same month last year.