The bio-health industry has been chosen as one of the major achievements in Korea’s export sector in 2020.
South Korea’s export sector performed better than other leading countries this year despite the global economic crisis caused by COVID-19, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said on Tuesday.
Although the cumulative exports until August fell 10.6% YoY, KITA explained that it is the fourth-best performance after Hong Kong, China, and the Netherlands.
Korea is actually the second-best after China considering that Hong Kong and the Netherlands are intermediary trade partners.
Furthermore, the recovery has passed its low point in Q2 and is in full swing after the Q3, and Korea’s economy is recovering from its pullback in September.
Eight new industries were behind Korea’s favorable export performance.
Exports of next-generation semiconductor, bio-health, and green vehicle have increased significantly among the eight new industries.
The increase in exports in the bio-health sector was 45.7% (based on exports from January to October), the only industry exceeding 30%.
Followed by bio-health, green vehicle recorded growth rates of 23.7% and next-generation semiconductor 12.1%, while the other five industries (next-generation display, new energy industry, advanced new materials, aerospace, and robot) shrunk.
The bio-health industry was also the second largest after the next-generation semiconductor (USD 39.4 billion) among the eight new industries by USD 10.8 billion in exports.
Moreover, while Korean products in major countries’ import market have increased, the KITA explains that the U.S. market is expanding its share of Korean products, focusing on bio-health, computers, and semiconductors.
Meanwhile, exports of quarantine-related products, including medicines, diagnostic kits, and masks, rose sharply based on quarantine performance that is exemplary in the world.
The exports of masks surged by 802.8%, diagnostic kits 675.8%, hand sanitizers and disinfectants 236.3%, and pharmaceutical products 64.2%.
