Vehicles await cargo abroad at a port in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Yonhap
Korea is quickly closing the export hole with Japan because the distinction shrinks to report lows, fueling optimism that Korea can catch as much as their neighbor’s export totals for the primary time, trade officers mentioned Thursday.
Citing knowledge from the Korea Worldwide Commerce Affiliation, Japan Tariff Affiliation and Worldwide Financial Fund, officers mentioned that Korea’s exports totaled $579.1 billion from January to October, in contrast with Japan’s $606.1 billion.
The $27 billion hole represents a dramatic discount from the full-year distinction of $122.4 billion in 2024, due to Korea’s sturdy exports of reminiscence chips amid the worldwide synthetic intelligence (AI) revolution.
“The interim 2025 determine is particularly noteworthy, as it’s a report low, with two months remaining to observe for additional developments,” an trade official mentioned.
The official famous that Korea has steadily narrowed its export hole with Japan, from $128.8 billion in 2020 to $85.1 billion in 2023, marking the primary time the hole fell beneath $100 billion.
Korea had closed the margin to $3.2 billion within the first half of final 12 months, elevating hopes of overtaking Japan in exports, however international market instability and home challenges slowed momentum and widened the hole to $122.4 billion by year-end.
“Beneath these circumstances, Korea may obtain (the milestone) for the primary time, and even surpass Japan, with a remaining dash by the tip of the 12 months being essential,” one other trade official mentioned.
Officers described this 12 months’s export pattern as “even higher than the primary half of 2024,” pointing to the continuing semiconductor supercycle as a key driver.
As Korea’s largest export merchandise, semiconductors are experiencing unusually sturdy demand and excessive costs because of the AI trade growth.
In November alone, semiconductor exports rose 38.6 p.c year-on-year to a report $17.26 billion, surpassing the earlier excessive of $16.61 billion from September.
One other key export merchandise, vehicles, additionally carried out nicely, as inner combustion and hybrid automobiles rose 13.7 p.c to $6.41 billion in November.
