Venture Companies Exported 27 Trillion Won Last Year... Top Export Item Was "Cosmetics"

Korea Venture Business Association Releases First Trade Trend Report
Last Year’s Venture Company Trade Volume Reached About 44 Trillion Won

Last year, the export volume of domestic venture companies reached approximately 27 trillion won. In particular, exports of advanced products such as cosmetics and semiconductor equipment, mainly to the United States and China, were found to be prominent.

According to the "2024 Venture Business Trade Trends" published by the Korea Venture Business Association on April 23, the total trade volume of venture companies last year amounted to $30.5 billion (about 43.6913 trillion won). Of this, exports accounted for $18.8 billion (about 26.884 trillion won), while imports made up $11.7 billion (about 16.731 trillion won).

Out of a total of 37,967 venture companies, 17,155 companies (45.2%) engaged in trade activities, either exports or imports. Among them, 9,936 companies (26.2%) were exporters, and 14,852 companies (39.1%) were importers.

The main export destinations were the United States (22.8%), China (17.2%), Vietnam (9.3%), Japan (7.5%), and Hong Kong (3.2%) in that order. In terms of the number of exporting companies, China led with 3,936 companies, while the average export amount per company was highest for the United States at $1.14 million, followed by China at $820,000.

The top export item was cosmetics (7.9%), followed by other machinery (5.1%) and semiconductor manufacturing equipment (4.6%), indicating a strong presence of advanced technology products.

Among major import countries, China accounted for the largest share of import volume (52.5%), followed by the United States (7.4%), Vietnam (7.3%), Japan (5.4%), and Taiwan (3.3%). Notably, 80.1% of all importing venture companies sourced their imports from China.

The top five import items were electronic integrated circuits (4.7%), semiconductor devices (2.1%), and telephones (2.0%), with semiconductor-related products ranking first and second.

Compared to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the average export amount for venture companies ($19 million) was higher than that of SMEs ($12 million). Among the 95,949 exporting SMEs last year, venture companies accounted for 9,936, representing 10.4%. In terms of export volume, venture companies contributed $18.8 billion out of $117.7 billion, which is 16.0%.

In terms of the number of exporting companies, both venture companies (3,936) and SMEs (26,977) had China as their top export destination. However, in terms of export value, the largest export market for venture companies was the United States ($4.3 billion), while for SMEs it was China ($19.9 billion). In addition, the concentration of G2 exports was higher for venture companies (40%) than for SMEs (33%).

Lee Jungmin, Secretary-General of the Korea Venture Business Association, emphasized, "The number of venture companies participating in trade activities is high, and their share in total SME exports is also significant. As venture companies play an important role in our exports, it is necessary to strengthen support for their entry into global markets."