3rd Quarter Domestic Supply in Manufacturing Up 2%... Highest Ever Import Ratio

Import Share 30.2% Highest Since 2010 Statistics Compilation
"Impact of Increased Vaccine Purchases for Quarantine and Semiconductor Equipment Imports"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Domestic supply in the manufacturing sector increased by 2% in the third quarter. As imported products increased, the import share reached a record high in the 30% range.

According to the "Third Quarter Manufacturing Domestic Supply Trends" released by Statistics Korea on the 9th, the manufacturing domestic supply index for the third quarter was 105.3 (provisional, 2015=100). This represents a 2% increase compared to 103.2 in the third quarter of the previous year. It is the highest level in four years since 107.6 in 2017 for the third quarter. The manufacturing domestic supply index indicates how much manufacturing products, both domestic and imported, were supplied domestically. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the index recorded three consecutive quarters of decline in the second (-4.9%), third (-0.5%), and fourth (-1.5%) quarters of last year, but turned positive in the first (3.3%) and second (9.1%) quarters of this year.

Both domestic and imported manufacturing supplies increased, with imports growing more significantly. The share of imports in domestic manufacturing supply was 30.2%, up 2.7 percentage points (p) from a year earlier, marking a record high. Imports increased across the board, including pharmaceuticals by 10.2 p, petroleum refining by 7.2 p, and other products by 5.9 p. Bin Hyunjoon, Director of Industrial Trends at Statistics Korea, explained, "The increase in imports is due to the rise in imports of vaccines, syringes, naphtha (raw material for mask filters), and equipment necessary for semiconductor production."

Domestic products decreased by 2.4%, mainly in ships and other transportation equipment and automobiles. The growth rate was 0% in the first quarter and 6.1% in the second quarter. Manufacturing products are divided into intermediate goods and final goods, with final goods further divided into consumer goods and capital goods (machinery and equipment used continuously in production activities). In the third quarter, intermediate goods increased by 2.5%, and final goods increased by 1.3%. By industry, primary metals (12.4%) and machinery equipment (11.1%) increased, while other transportation equipment (31.9%) decreased.

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