Trade Surplus With China to Fall Below $20 Bil.
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
South Korea's trade surplus against China is expected to fall below $20 billion this year for the first time in four years on growing imports from China, according to the Korea Customs Service, Monday.
As of the end of November, Seoul posted a surplus of $17.3 billion in its trade with Beijing, falling $1.8 billion, or 9.5 percent, from a year ago. The annual trade surplus is unlikely to reach $20 billion given the average monthly surplus of $1.57 billion, the office said.
The trade surplus with China, the country's largest trading partner, topped $23.3 billion in 2005, but shrank to $20.9 billion last year.
Economists say imports from China have risen at a faster pace than exports to China, denting the surplus.
Exports to China rose by 18.1 percent from a year ago to $74.7 billion as of the end of November, while imports from China surged by 30 percent to $57.3 billion.
``China is now locally producing some materials that it had relied on imports for. Korean companies operating in China are also turning to local production to cut costs,'' said Jung Sang-eun, an economist at the Samsung Economic Research Institute.
Seoul-Beijing trade volume hit $64.94 billion in the first half of this year. The figure has been expanding by an average of about 28 percent every year since 2000.