Domestic Supply of Manufacturing Increased by 2.5% Last Year... Highest Ever Import Share

Annual Domestic Supply Trends of Manufacturing Industry by Statistics Korea

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Song Seungseop] Domestic supply in the manufacturing industry increased by 2.5% last year. The proportion of imported products in domestic supply reached an all-time high of 31.2%.

According to the 'Annual Manufacturing Domestic Supply Trends' data released by Statistics Korea on the 8th, the domestic supply index for 2022 was recorded at 111.4. Domestic supply decreased by 0.4% due to declines in the chemical products and primary metals sectors, but imports of electronics and chemical products increased, resulting in a final significant expansion of 9.2%.

Among these, the share of imports rose by 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous year. The import share of final goods increased by 1.1 percentage points to 33.9%, and intermediate goods rose by 2.4 percentage points to 29.7%. In particular, imports of tobacco (7.3 percentage points), apparel and fur (6.1 percentage points), and electrical equipment (4.8 percentage points) increased significantly.

By industry, electronics expanded by 14.1% compared to the previous year, with both domestic (1.9%) and imported (20.8%) products increasing. Automobiles also grew by 9.1%, with domestic (6.7%) and imported (23.7%) products both rising. However, primary metals shrank by 4.7%, with both domestic (-5.1%) and imported (-3.4%) products decreasing.

Final goods domestic supply increased by 0.5% year-on-year, and intermediate goods by 3.7%. In the case of consumer goods, domestic supply decreased by 2.2%, but imports rose by 7.6%. Conversely, capital goods imports decreased by 3.7%, while domestic supply increased by 3.1%.

Quarterly, in the fourth quarter of last year, domestic supply in manufacturing decreased by 0.6% domestically but imports increased by 6.2%, resulting in a 1.5% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Final goods rose by 0.6%, and intermediate goods by 2.1%. Consumer goods such as mobile phones and ready-made outerwear declined. Capital goods like gas and chemical carriers or wafer processing equipment, and intermediate goods such as automobile parts and system semiconductors increased.