Korea's proportion in China's imports fell below 7% last year: data

A truck is seen next to containers at the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai, China, Jan. 13, 2022. Reuters-Yonhap

Korea took up less than 7 percent of China's total imports last year, the lowest in 30 years, amid a change in the two countries' trade relations and a global slump in the IT industry, data showed Sunday.

Korea accounted for 6.3 percent of China's total inbound shipments last year, compared with 7.4 percent in 2022, according to data compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA).

The figure was the lowest since 1993, a year after Seoul and Beijing established diplomatic relations. The corresponding tally was 5.2 percent in 1993.

In particular, outbound shipments of semiconductors, Korea's key export item, to China plunged by 30.6 percent to $36.1 billion last year due to sluggish global demand.

Korea was the third biggest exporter to China after Taiwan and the United States last year, down a notch compared with a year earlier.

From 2013 to 2019, Korea was the biggest exporter to China.

Market observers say Korea's position in China's import market has weakened in recent years amid Beijing's push to strengthen its smartphone, display, automobile and other industries, which are key industries of Korea.

"For a long time after establishing diplomatic relations, the two countries had strong cooperation where Korea exported intermediary goods to China and China manufactured finished goods to export to the global market. But since 2010, economic cooperation between Korea and China changed as Chinese manufacturing industries' self sufficiency rate went up," Cho Sang-hyun, a senior official at KITA, said.

"Our export industry has to come up with competitive products other than semiconductors to target the Chinese market," Cho added. (Yonhap)