Pharmaceutical Product Exports Grow for Seven Consecutive Months, While Trade Deficit Widens

[NEWSMP] While pharmaceutical product exports continue to grow strongly, the trade deficit has widened further.

According to the Korea Customs Service, exports of pharmaceutical products (HS30) totaled $834.31 million in May, up 8.8% from a year earlier, extending their growth streak to seven consecutive months since November last year.

However, compared with April, when exports surpassed $900 million on growth of more than 20%, the May figure declined by nearly $120 million, and the pace of growth slowed considerably.

Nevertheless, cumulative exports for the first five months of the year reached $4.12132 billion, up 13.3% from the same period last year, maintaining double-digit growth and surpassing the $4 billion mark in just five months.

Although pharmaceutical product exports have continued to rise steadily, the trade deficit has expanded significantly as imports have increased at an even faster pace.

In particular, imports surged 52.7% year over year to $1.10312 billion in May, surpassing the $1 billion mark and reaching the highest monthly level of the year.

As a result, the pharmaceutical products trade balance shifted from a surplus of $44.44 million in May last year to a deficit of $268.82 million in May this year.

Imports of pharmaceutical products have continued to grow for nine consecutive months since September last year. Notably, both import values and growth rates have increased month after month since February.

Average monthly imports have exceeded $1 billion over the past three months, and cumulative imports for the January–May period jumped 29.0% from a year earlier to $4.72237 billion.

Consequently, the cumulative trade deficit for the first five months of the year widened to $601.05 million, nearly 28 times larger than the $21.43 million deficit recorded during the same period last year.