Gyeongnam's Largest Surplus This Year... Exports Up 28.9% and Trade Balance at 1.2 Billion USD

Gyeongsangnam-do announced on the 16th that its trade balance in April reached $1.216 billion, marking the largest scale this year.

According to Gyeongnam Province, monthly exports in April rose 28.9% from the same month last year to $3.415 billion, driven by strong exports of passenger cars and ships, while imports decreased by 1.6% to $2.2 billion.

Since the beginning of this year, exports in the province have increased for four consecutive months, and imports have decreased for four consecutive months, steadily expanding the trade surplus, in contrast to the domestic trade balance, which has shown a deficit streak for four consecutive months.

Monthly Trade Balance Status Nationwide and Gyeongnam. [Image provided by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

Among them, passenger car exports increased by 466% compared to April last year following the launch of the Trax Crossover produced at the Korea GM Changwon plant in February.

Ship exports, boosted by the start of container ship deliveries, rose 183.5%, and exports of key local products such as machinery and weapons increased by 52.6% and 6469.8%, respectively, achieving the highest annual performance.

Imports of fuels such as natural gas and coal, which had surged due to winter heating demand, decreased by nearly 40% compared to the beginning of the year, and imports of capital goods including machinery declined by 10.1% from the previous year.

Yang Sang-ho, head of the International Trade Division, said, “We will expand the scale of export insurance premium support projects in the second half of this year to respond to changes in the international trade environment, and will make efforts to revitalize Gyeongnam’s exports by steadily carrying out financial support for export companies, overseas marketing for export market diversification, and capacity-building projects for export companies.”