In the first month of the Year of Tiger, Korea’s exports of the biohealth sector hit an all-time high in January.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), the monthly exports of biohealth in January were $1.679 billion, up 30.0% from the same period last year.
In January last year, the rise in biohealth exports was also driven by a 70.0% jump from the same month of the previous year (January 2020).
Despite recording a growth rate of 70% in January of last year, exports increased by 30% more than that of last year.
The figure is the highest ever in January exports in the biohealth sector, and this is the third-largest overall, the MOTIE said.
Earlier in December, exports in the biohealth sector reached an all-time high of $1.892 billion.
In this regard, the MOTIE evaluated, “The rapid growth of three strategic goods, including system semiconductors, biohealth, and electric vehicles, and new growth items such as SSD, OLED, and Agricultural products and fisheries, continues in 2022.”
In particular, regarding the growth of the biohealth sector, they analyzed, “Despite the base effect of export expansion in the same month of the previous year, exports of medical devices such as implants, the main item, showed a recovery amid solid demand for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments due to the spread of the new variant.”
Meanwhile, in January, biohealth exports by region surged by 156.0% to the U.S. and 42.6% to Asia, but exports to Europe decreased by 30.5%.
