Jung In-gyo: "To Maintain Upward Export Trend, Competitiveness and Market Diversification Are Essential"

3rd Export Region Officers Meeting

Jung In-kyo, Director General for Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (File photo)

Jung In-kyo, Head of the Trade Negotiation Department at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated on the 29th, "To sustain the upward momentum of exports, which are driving our economic growth, efforts to maintain competitiveness in major markets and diversify into emerging markets must be pursued simultaneously."

On the same day, Head Jung held the 3rd Export Region Officers Meeting at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry to review export conditions by major regions and discuss tailored export expansion plans for each region.

Our exports have maintained a positive trend for five consecutive months, recording $107.2 billion in combined exports for January and February this year, an increase of 11.2%. In particular, exports to the United States, which recorded a record high last year ($115.7 billion, +5.4%), increased by 17.6% in January and February this year, setting a new record for the same period. The growth is expected to continue based on the strong performance of key export items such as semiconductors (+141.1%), general machinery (+60.2%), and automobiles (+29.8%). Additionally, exports to China have shown a gradually increasing daily export growth rate this year, with a positive export figure in January and a trade surplus in February, driven by improvements in the global information technology (IT) sector, particularly semiconductors (+41.3%), displays (+19.8%), and computers (+14.7%). Exports to ASEAN, where Korean companies' production bases are concentrated, also continue to grow by 3.7%, led by Vietnam (8.0%), while exports to Central and South America (26.6%) are being driven by increases in general machinery (29.6%) and petroleum products (203.8%).

Head Jung said, "While exports to major markets are expected to remain favorable this year, despite a shortage of working days in March (-1.5 days), the export growth trend and trade surplus momentum will continue. The government will work as one team with frontline export personnel such as embassy commercial attach?s and KOTRA trade offices to manage various trade issues, and will mobilize all available resources to fully support exports."