"K-Content Thanks"... Last Year's Intellectual Property Trade Surplus Hits Record High

Maximum Annual Surplus of $180 Million
Surplus in Both Cultural Arts Copyrights and Software Copyrights

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Thanks to the K-content boom in music, dramas, and more, South Korea's trade balance reached a record annual surplus of 180 million dollars last year.

According to the "2023 Intellectual Property Trade Balance (Provisional)" released by the Bank of Korea on the 20th, the intellectual property trade balance in 2023 recorded a surplus of 180 million dollars, marking the largest annual surplus since statistics compilation began in 2010. In 2022, the intellectual property trade balance showed a deficit of 1.11 billion dollars. In the first half of last year, there was a deficit of 190 million dollars, which turned into a surplus of 370 million dollars in the second half.

By type, industrial property rights showed a deficit (-1.86 billion dollars), while copyrights recorded a surplus (2.21 billion dollars).

Industrial property rights deficits were mainly due to patents and utility model rights (-700 million dollars) and trademarks and franchise rights (-1.17 billion dollars). Copyrights achieved surpluses in both cultural and artistic copyrights (1.1 billion dollars) and research & development and software copyrights (1.11 billion dollars).

Moon Hye-jung, head of the International Balance of Payments Team at the Bank of Korea's Economic Statistics Bureau, explained the industrial property rights deficit by stating, "It is attributed to a significant increase in exports of patents and utility model rights by overseas local subsidiaries of domestic large corporations in sectors such as automobiles and secondary batteries, driven by overseas factory expansions and increased domestic product demand."

She added, "With steady exports of K-content such as music, dramas, and webtoons, and the expansion of overseas performances by K-artists following the COVID-19 endemic, cultural and artistic copyrights achieved an all-time high surplus." Despite a sluggish game industry, software copyrights showed a surplus due to increased exports of computer programs supporting IT for overseas subsidiaries of domestic large corporations.

By institution type, large corporations (6.24 billion dollars) showed a surplus centered on domestic large corporations (6.07 billion dollars), while small and medium-sized enterprises (-6.11 billion dollars) showed a deficit mainly due to foreign-invested small and medium-sized enterprises (-5.77 billion dollars).

The manufacturing sector (2.77 billion dollars) showed a surplus mainly in semiconductors and other electrical and electronic products (2.11 billion dollars), and automobiles and trailers (1.65 billion dollars).

On the other hand, the service sector (-2.71 billion dollars) showed deficits centered on information and communications (-1.45 billion dollars), wholesale and retail trade (-810 million dollars), and business facility management and support services (-520 million dollars).

By trading country, surpluses were recorded with China (2.52 billion dollars) and Vietnam (1.36 billion dollars), while deficits were seen with the United Kingdom (-3.23 billion dollars), the United States (-2.09 billion dollars), and others.

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