"Export Recovery: 'Bio, Secondary Battery, Semiconductor' Fast, 'Steel' Outlook for Second Half of Next Year"

FKCCI Survey Results on Export Market Outlook for 15 Key Products

Export Market Outlook for 15 Key Items

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Among South Korea's top 15 export items, exports of bio-health, semiconductors, and secondary batteries are rapidly recovering, while steel, petroleum, and general machinery items are expected to recover in the second half of next year.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced on the 11th that this was the result of a survey on the 'Export Market Outlook for the 15 Major Key Items' conducted among the heads of research centers of 11 domestic securities firms.

The FKI explained that according to the survey results, the items expected to recover and grow the fastest in exports were bio-health (24.0%), secondary batteries (23.3%), semiconductors (22.0%), computers (10.7%), and wireless communication (8.0%), in that order.

For bio-health, 88.9% of respondents said that export recovery and growth have 'already started,' the highest proportion, while 60.0% expected secondary batteries to recover in the third quarter of this year. For semiconductors, opinions were evenly split between 'already started' (50.0%) and 'third quarter of this year' (50.0%).

The item expected to recover the slowest was steel products (22.0%), followed by petroleum products (15.3%), general machinery (13.3%), petrochemicals (9.3%), and textiles (9.3%).

Challenges in Export Industry Slump and Improvement Tasks for Resolution

For steel products, 33.3% of respondents expected the export recovery period to be the second half of next year, and 22.2% believed it would be after 2022. For general machinery, the most common response was 'second half of next year (33.3%),' and for petroleum products, 'first half of next year (57.1%).'

The biggest difficulty facing the domestic export industry was 'uncertainty due to COVID-19 (51.4%),' followed by 'global demand decline (15.2%)' and 'US-China hegemony conflict (15.2%).'

To resolve the export slump, 45.4% selected 'expanding support for R&D investment to strengthen industrial competitiveness.' This was followed by 'improving the business environment through regulatory reforms and tax reductions' (30.3%) and 'government efforts to improve trade conditions with major export countries' (18.2%).

The FKI analyzed that to overcome export crises caused by external factors such as COVID-19 or US-China conflicts, competitiveness must be secured through technological advancement.

Kim Bong-man, head of the FKI International Cooperation Office, said, "Due to COVID-19, the spread of protectionism and the acceleration of global supply chain restructuring have increased uncertainty in our export market," adding, "It is necessary to improve the business environment through expanded government investment support, deregulation, and tax incentives."

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