E-commerce Exports Increased 1.7 Times Last Year Due to COVID-19... "Government Strategy Needed"

Shopping through a mobile application. (Photo by Emart)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] While South Korea's exports continue to struggle to achieve positive growth in the third quarter, e-commerce performance has increased to 1.7 times that of last year. Experts say a government-level strategy is needed to convert transaction data into big data for commercialization.

E-commerce import and export customs clearance status. (Data from Korea Customs Service)

According to the Korea Customs Service on the 23rd, e-commerce export value in the first half of this year was $475.6 million. This early achievement reached 84.4% of last year's total of $563.47 million. Assuming the first half's performance continues, it will record 1.69 times last year's figure.

It has already surpassed $382.64 million in 2018, $292.49 million in 2017, $268.62 million in 2016, and $161.39 million in 2015.

In terms of export volume, 11.265 million cases were recorded in the first half, which is 85.4% of last year's 13.198 million cases. It has long surpassed 9.615 million cases in 2018, 7.098 million in 2017, 5.859 million in 2016, and 2.577 million in 2015.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

In October last year, the government sent a delegation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland, for negotiations on international rules for digital trade transactions and announced that results would be achieved by June. Discussions reportedly covered digital trade activation, information transfer, personal data protection, and cybersecurity.

However, there are criticisms that international regulations are minimal and that government-level promotion policies are lacking. Although the amendment to the Data 3 Act (Personal Information Protection Act, Information and Communications Network Act, Credit Information Act) was fully implemented on the 5th, the regulatory threshold for anonymizing personal information remains high.

Professor Jeong In-gyo of Inha University's Department of International Trade said, "The WTO is discussing how to manage data and protect consumers. For example, the United States is trying to establish regulations to activate commercialization by converting transaction data into big data," adding, "We also need to develop an e-commerce export management strategy at the government level beyond the customs clearance management level of the Korea Customs Service."

The share of e-commerce export performance in South Korea's total exports is minimal. The total export value in the first half ($475.6 million) accounts for only 1.1% of last month’s confirmed total export value of South Korea ($42.827 billion, according to the Korea Customs Service).

Experts say that a government-level export strategy is necessary as the e-commerce industry is expected to grow in the post-COVID-19 era. (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

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