KOTRA Urgently Responds to Export Issues Including Ukraine Crisis by Connecting North America and CIS

Worsening Ukraine Crisis... Discussion on Impact and Measures for Exports, Supply Chains, and Logistics

At the Ukraine Business Difficulty Consultation Center established at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) in Seocho-gu, Seoul, export specialists from the Overseas Expansion Consultation Center are discussing phone consultations and consultation methods.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] As the situation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine worsens, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) took urgent measures on the 25th by connecting the North American field with Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) regions and the Seoul headquarters.

Since the 28th of last month, KOTRA has been operating the 'Ukraine Emergency Response Team' to monitor corporate trends, resolve difficulties, and support the impact on exports and supply chains on a daily basis. From the 24th of this month, companies, experts, and trade center heads located in North America, Russia and other CIS regions, and domestically have jointly focused on discussing effective responses to current issues and ways to utilize export opportunities. This is based on the judgment that the worsening Ukraine situation could significantly affect exports, supply chains, and logistics.

President Yoo Jung-yeol chaired the Ukraine emergency response meetings, met with companies and experts in the fields of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and future vehicles on site, and subsequently presided over the North American trade center heads meeting and a digital transformation seminar. Attending companies and experts stated, "With the U.S. supporting innovative growth industries and global information and communication technology (ICT) companies internalizing manufacturing design, market opportunities are expanding," and requested support for local networking and startup investment attraction activities.

Also, at the trade center heads meeting on the 25th, trade center heads from 15 countries including Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv, along with the headquarters emergency response team, participated both online and offline to exchange views on the impact and outlook of the Ukraine situation from the perspectives of North America and CIS regions and to establish countermeasures.

U.S. companies are also concerned that the worsening situation between Russia and Ukraine will lead to global supply chain disruptions, rising raw material prices, and intensified logistics congestion. KOTRA plans to identify and respond to the extent of the impact of the U.S. export ban on Russian-bound technology products such as semiconductors, telecommunications, and sensors. Some Russian buyers have been observed moving to advance their purchase timing and increase inventory in anticipation of further depreciation of the ruble. However, opinions were also raised that support should be provided while carefully considering payment delays and the possibility of including sanctioned items.

Support for companies to expand exports will be steadily strengthened. Although there are short-term concerns about consumption contraction due to interest rate hikes and soaring prices in North America, it is a representative market that determines the development direction of advanced industries. In particular, the U.S. and Canadian governments are accelerating infrastructure and advanced industry investment expansion, transition to eco-friendly and low-carbon economies, and supply chain restructuring in cooperation with allied countries, which can act as opportunities for our companies.

KOTRA President Yoo Jung-yeol said, "We will focus on proactive responses to supply chain and logistics instability triggered by the Ukraine situation, while continuously capturing export opportunities for companies without wavering even in such circumstances," and added, "We will closely monitor the difficulties of our companies operating and exporting in Russia, Ukraine, CIS, and Eastern Europe, and provide support in cooperation with related organizations."

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