Decline for 2 Consecutive Years
Below 3% for 4 Years Since 2019
Last year, South Korea's share of the global export market was found to be the lowest since the global financial crisis struck in 2008.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on the 16th, the total global export value last year was $24,904,489,000,000, of which South Korea's export value ($683,585,000,000) accounted for 2.74%. This marks a decline in South Korea's share of the global export market for the second consecutive year, following a drop from 2.90% in 2020 to 2.88% in 2021.
South Korea's share of the global export market first exceeded 3% in 2014 (3.02%) and maintained a 3% range for five consecutive years until 2018 (3.09%). In 2017, the share reached an all-time high of 3.23%.
However, from 2019, when COVID-19 spread, through last year, the share remained in the 2% range for four consecutive years (2.85% → 2.90% → 2.88% → 2.74%). In particular, last year's figure (2.74%) was the lowest since 2008 (2.61%), when the world experienced a recession due to the US-originated global financial crisis.
This decline is attributed to the global rise of nationalism and protectionism triggered by the US-China trade war, as well as the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war last year.
According to KITA, a 0.1 percentage point drop in export share results in approximately 140,000 job losses.
The share of semiconductors, South Korea's largest export item, rose to 20.9% in 2018 but has failed to recover the 20% level for four consecutive years from 2019 to last year (17.3% → 19.4% → 19.9% → 18.9%). Especially, from January to March this year, the share dropped to 13.6%.
The trade deficit has continued for 13 months through last month. The trade deficit reached a record annual high of $47,784,000,000 last year. The deficit recorded over the first three months of this year (January to March) was $22,410,000,000, reaching 46.9% of last year's total.
The trade deficit accounted for 3.4% of the total trade (exports and imports) last year, higher than the 3.0% during the foreign exchange crisis in 1997 when South Korea requested a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In particular, the trade deficit ratio from January to March this year was 6.9%, more than double last year's 3.4%. Since globalization began in 1990, this is the second-highest level after 1996 (7.4%), the year before the IMF foreign exchange crisis.
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