South Korea’s annual trade volume tops US$1 trillion

SEOUL - Korea's annual cumulative trade volume gas exceeded US$1 trillion on November 16, due to increases in high-value added products, diversification of export goods and expansion of newly emerging markets.

Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Korea Customs Service (KCS) saythis is the fastest pace of increase since trade statistics were first recorded in 1957.

The trade Ministry forecasts that trade volume will further increase to USD1.1 trillion within this year.
According to the cumulative data, Korea's 13 major export items, including memory chips, general machinery, petrochemicals and chemical products, exceeded previous records.

The export volume of each of these items jumped 36.2%, 12.6%, and 15.0% respectively from January to October from a year ago.

The positive growth rate of current global manufacturing industries the rising oil prices were considered the main reasons for such results. The Ministry said.

The export volume of high-value added products, such as next-generation storage devices and multi-chip module items, also increased by 13.5% and 33.6% respectively.Despite difficult conditions amid trade conflicts between the U.S. and China, the Ministry said, the Government had expanded both the scale of support for export companies, and its trade insurance service for new emerging markets. www.koreanet.kr (ATI).