Last Year’s Export Value Plummeted 10.3%...Slight Easing of Dependence on Large Corporations

2019 Trade Statistics by Company Type (Preliminary) Released
Japanese Imports Plunge 16.8%... Impact of Boycott Movement and Export Restrictions

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Last year, the export volume of South Korean companies sharply declined by 10.3% compared to the previous year. In particular, large corporations experienced a greater decrease in export volume compared to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies. The trade dependence of large corporations somewhat eased.

According to the '2019 Trade Statistics by Company Characteristics (Provisional)' data released on the 26th by Statistics Korea and the Korea Customs Service, the export volume of domestic companies last year was $541.2 billion, down 10.3% from the same period the previous year.

The decline was led by large corporations. Large corporations saw an increase in consumer goods such as automobiles (4.1%), but capital goods like semiconductors (-18.3%) and raw materials such as petrochemicals (-9.8%) decreased, resulting in a 13.5% drop compared to the previous year. Mid-sized companies experienced a 4.6% decrease due to declines in consumer goods like leather, rubber, and footwear (-2.2%), raw materials such as petrochemicals (-8.7%), and capital goods like semiconductors (-2.6%). Small enterprises saw a 3.3% decrease as consumer goods such as durable household items increased by 2.0%, but capital goods like precision machinery (-3.4%) and raw materials such as petrochemicals (-6.1%) declined.

Accordingly, the trade dependence of large corporations in numerical terms somewhat eased. Large corporations, which account for about 0.8% (around 800 companies) of all companies, had an export volume of $347.6 billion, representing 64.2% of the total export volume ($541.2 billion). The export share of large corporations decreased by 2.4 percentage points this year from 64.2% in 2016, 66.3% in 2017, and 66.6% in 2018.

The trade concentration, which indicates the trade share of top companies by amount, also eased. Last year, the export trade concentration of the top 10 companies was 34.6%, down 3.3 percentage points from the previous year. The concentration of the top 100 companies dropped 2.5 percentage points to 63.9%, marking the lowest level since the related statistics began in 2010.

Based on last year’s imports, the share of large corporations also decreased. Large corporations, which make up 0.6% (around 1,100 companies) of all importing companies, had an import volume of $297.7 billion, accounting for 60.1% of the total import volume ($495.5 billion). The import share of large corporations had increased from 57.2% in 2016 to 59.8% in 2017 and 61.0% in 2018, but fell by 0.9 percentage points last year. The import trade concentration of the top 10 companies was 30.1%, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous year.

Last year, South Korea’s total import volume decreased by 6.4% compared to the previous year, but large corporations saw a larger decline of 7.8%. Mid-sized companies showed no change, while small enterprises decreased by 6.8%. By country, imports from Japan, which faced export restrictions and even a domestic boycott movement, decreased by 16.8% among large corporations. Imports from Japan by mid-sized and small enterprises also declined by 6.7% and 10.9%, respectively, mainly in electrical and electronic products.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.