Gyeongbuk Province Sees Export Green Light... $3.4 Billion in January, Up 24.7% Year-on-Year

Boom in Non-Face-to-Face Industry... Wireless Communication, Optical Devices and 7 Other Items Lead Growth

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Gyeongsangbuk-do's first export of the year recorded $3.44 billion (approximately 3.9 trillion KRW), a 24.7% increase compared to $2.76 billion in the same period last year, raising expectations for export recovery.

According to Gyeongbuk Province on the 17th, despite the global trade contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, national exports in January this year reached $48 billion, showing an 11.4% increase compared to $43.1 billion in the same period last year.

In the case of Gyeongbuk Province, it showed double-digit growth rates for three consecutive months since November last year, recording the highest growth rate in January this year.

In particular, in January this year, driven by the boom in non-face-to-face industries, seven of the top 10 main export items of Gyeongbuk Province led the increase in export performance, including wireless communication device parts ($420 million, 295.1%), wireless telephones ($330 million, 122.1%), optical devices ($250 million, 104.1%), flat panel displays ($150 million, 46.5%), and automobile parts ($130 million, 22.7%).

By region, among the total exports of $3.4 billion from Gyeongbuk, China, the top export country with the largest share, accounted for $1.26 billion (+72.6%). Following were the United States in second place with $550 million (+33.5%), Vietnam in third with $230 million (+10.0%), Japan in fourth with $210 million (-1.7%), and India in fifth with $120 million (+11.2%).

Gyeongbuk Province is intensively supporting online overseas marketing for domestic export companies in anticipation of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting with the Southeast Asia region in March, it will operate an online trade delegation 16 times annually, and last year, it will participate in a total of 19 overseas exhibitions in a hybrid format combining offline product exhibitions and online consultations, which were completely canceled last year. It will also hold about eight video export consultation meetings targeting the New Northern and Southern regions, strengthening customized online export consultation support linked with overseas KOTRA trade centers.

Governor Lee Cheol-woo emphasized, "Although the resurgence of COVID-19, US-China conflicts, and continued protectionism may limit export recovery, we will implement various support measures to maintain export growth." He added, "This year, we will invest a budget of 7.4 billion KRW targeting export companies to carry out various customized export infrastructure support projects along with online overseas marketing."

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