"Korean Wave Fever Continues"... 330 Million Dollar Surplus in Intellectual Property Trade Balance for First Half of the Year

Significant Increase in Database Copyright Exports
Second Highest Surplus Recorded on a Half-Year Basis

The group NMIXX performing at the 'KCON LA 2023' concert held in the United States from the 18th to the 20th of last month [Image source=Yonhap News]

The trade balance of intellectual property rights recorded a surplus of $330 million in the first half of this year, marking the second-largest surplus on a half-year basis in history.

This was influenced by the continued strong export performance of Hallyu content such as music, as well as a significant increase in database exports.

According to the provisional trade balance of intellectual property rights for the first half of 2023 announced by the Bank of Korea on the 22nd, the trade balance of intellectual property rights recorded a surplus of $330 million in the first half of this year.

This is the second-largest surplus on a half-year basis since the $350 million surplus in the second half of 2019.

By type, industrial property rights posted a deficit of $1.08 billion, while copyrights recorded a surplus of $1.52 billion.

In the case of industrial property rights, both patents and utility model rights (-$570 million) and trademarks and franchise rights (-$520 million) showed poor performance.

On the other hand, copyrights recorded surpluses in both research and development and software copyrights ($1.18 billion) and cultural and artistic copyrights ($340 million).

The cultural and artistic copyrights posted the second-largest surplus on a half-year basis since the $460 million surplus in the second half of 2022.

Among research and development and software copyrights, database exports showed significant growth by recording the second-largest surplus since the $1.81 billion surplus in the first half of 2021.

Moon Hye-jung, head of the international balance of payments team, explained, "The surplus in research and development and software copyrights greatly expanded as database exports increased and the deficit in computer programs decreased. Cultural and artistic copyrights also posted continuous surpluses since the first half of 2020, supported by increased exports of Hallyu content such as music and videos."

Looking at the types of institutions, large corporations posted a surplus of $2.81 billion, while small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies recorded a deficit of $2.52 billion.

Among large corporations, domestic large corporations posted a surplus of $2.85 billion, whereas foreign-invested large corporations showed a deficit of $40 million.

By industry, manufacturing ($1.07 billion) showed a surplus, while services (-$820 million) showed a deficit.

Among the manufacturing sectors that posted surpluses, automobiles and trailers ($860 million) and electrical and electronic products ($710 million) performed well.

Looking at the trading partner countries, surpluses were recorded with China ($1.35 billion) and Vietnam ($770 million), while deficits were recorded with the United Kingdom (-$1.73 billion), the United States (-$1.11 billion), and Japan (-$110 million).

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