5 months of exports down due to sluggish semiconductor… Deteriorating terms of trade for the 23rd month｜The Dong-A Ilbo

Due to the decline in the price of semiconductors, Korea’s main export product, the export value index fell by nearly 7%, continuing the downward trend for five consecutive months. The income amount index turned to an increase in 3 months. The ‘Net Goods Terms of Trade Index’, which measures the amount of goods that can be imported per unit of export, has deteriorated for 23 consecutive months.

According to the ‘Trade Index and Terms of Trade for February 2023’ announced by the Bank of Korea on the 28th, the February export amount index (120.05) fell 6.9% from a year ago, showing a downward trend for five consecutive months. The decline was greatly reduced compared to the previous month (-18.1%).

By item, transportation equipment (36.1%) and coal and petroleum products (12.0%) increased, but computers/electronics/optical devices (-36.2%) and chemical products (-6.1%) decreased. The decline in computer/electronic/optical devices such as semiconductors recorded the lowest level in 14 years and 1 month after falling -39.3% in January 2009.

On the other hand, the export volume index (117.20) rose 1.1% from a year ago, turning upward in five months.

Computer, electronic and optical devices (-18.3%) decreased, but transportation equipment (33.5%) and coal and petroleum products (16.9%) increased.

Due to strong exports of eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles last month, transportation equipment recorded the largest increase ever in both the export volume index and value index.

Seo Jeong-seok, head of the Price Statistics Team at the BOK’s Economic Statistics Bureau, said, “The export amount index is largely affected by a sharp drop in computer/electronic/optical equipment as IT export prices, especially semiconductors, fell due to sluggish demand for semiconductors due to the global economic slowdown.”

“On the other hand, the number of working days in February increased by two days compared to the previous year, and the export volume index turned upward for the first time in five months as both the price and volume of transportation equipment recorded the largest increase ever due to the brisk export of eco-friendly vehicles,” he said. “It has the effect of increasing the volume index after subtracting from the amount by the extent of the decline due to the decrease in the price of coal and petroleum products.”

The import amount index rose 3.0% year-on-year to 154.11, turning upward in three months.

By item, computers/electronics/optical devices (-7.7%) and primary metal products (-10.7%) decreased, but mining products (16.7%) and chemical products (9.6%) increased, turning up compared to the same month last year. did.

The import volume index (125.89) rose 6.7% year-on-year, turning upward in three months. Primary metal products (-6.5%) and machinery and equipment (-1.0%) decreased, but mining products (17.5%) and chemical products (14.1%) increased.

The net goods terms of trade index (83.67) in February fell 4.5% from a year ago, showing a downward trend for 23 consecutive months. Compared to the previous month (-5.2%), the decline was slightly reduced. This is because export prices (-7.9%) fell more than import prices (-3.6%). The 23rd consecutive month of decline in the net goods terms of trade index was the longest since the 28th consecutive month of decline from December 2017 to March 2020. Compared to the previous month, it decreased by 1.1%. The net terms of trade index is the ratio between the price of one unit of exported goods and the price of one unit of imported goods, and is an indicator of the amount of goods that Korea can import with one unit of exports.

The income terms of trade index (98.06) declined for 13 consecutive months, with the export volume index (1.1%) rising but the net commodity trade index (-4.5%) falling, down 3.5% from a year ago. The income trade index refers to the total amount of goods that can be imported with the total amount of exports in Korea.

[서울=뉴시스]