South Korea’s exports to China dropped last month, highlighting the impact that COVID-19-related lockdowns in Chinese cities are having on supply chains around the region.
Shipments to China fell 3.4 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 16.6 percent gain in March, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement yesterday.
Overall exports advanced 12.6 percent last month, while semiconductor sales increased 15.8 percent.
Photo: EPA-EFE
South Korea is a barometer of worldwide demand, with its manufacturing capability ranging from chips to displays and refined oil. The diversity of destinations for its overseas shipments also means its trade performance is something of a heat map for global economic activity.
Demand has been softening in Europe and China since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as more Chinese cities go into lockdown under the country’s “zero COVID” policy. These twin risks to the global economy have further inflamed inflationary pressures and triggered renewed disruptions in supply chains.
Still, a strong recovery in the US has helped maintain momentum for South Korean exports. Demand for technology products such as displays and semiconductors also remains resilient, allowing major exporters like Samsung Electronics Co to report a surge in earnings.
South Korea’s heavy reliance on trade means it needs exports to hold up to prevent the economy from slowing further, and provide scope for the Bank of Korea to stick to its path of policy normalization.
The central bank is scheduled to meet this month and is battling to rein in unexpectedly strong inflation. It has been among the early movers in raising interest rates.
Sunday’s data also showed average daily shipments increased 15 percent last month from a year earlier.
Total automobile exports advanced 6.1 percent last month, while shipments of wireless communications devices rose 8.3 percent.
Overall exports to the US gained 26.4 percent, while those to Japan increased 6.2 percent and to the EU they were up 7.4 percent.
Exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States fell 46.5 percent.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
RSS