South Korea’s exports continued to decline last month in a sign of cooling global demand as higher interest rates weigh on consumption.
Overseas shipments dropped 9.5 percent from a year earlier, compared with economists’ forecasts for an 11.1 percent decline, and imports fell 2.4 percent, data released yesterday by the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy showed.
The trade shortfall was US$4.7 billion last month, resulting in the first annual deficit since the global financial crisis, as elevated oil prices battered many trade-dependent nations.
Photo: Reuters
South Korean exports are a major barometer of global commerce and tech demand as the nation produces key items such as chips, displays and refined oil.
Trade resilience has been a key source of reassurance for the Bank of Korea that the economy could withstand higher borrowing costs even as it tightened policy over the past year.
However, the cycle of interest rate hikes is likely close to ending as the central bank becomes more concerned about growth with the world economy slowing.
South Korean exports last year increased 6.1 percent, while imports rose 18.9 percent. The contraction in monthly shipments began in October, with weaker chip demand leading the decline.
Semiconductor sales plunged 29.1 percent from a year earlier last month, the fifth straight monthly drop, the trade ministry said.
Chipmakers are adjusting to the slackening demand, and cut production in November by the most since 2009.
Elevated inflation, China’s emergence from “zero COVID-19” and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are among other factors complicating the outlook for trade.
Labor strife is another factor that could hit the economy, as workers express discontent fueled by soaring prices. A nationwide truckers’ strike weighed on South Korea’s supply chains before ending last month.
Exports would likely fall 4.5 percent this year and imports could decline 6.4 percent, the South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance said.
Rivalry between the US and China over semiconductor hegemony poses a longer-term threat to South Korea whose trade depends heavily on momentum in global memory chip sales.
China’s struggle with nationwide COVID-19 outbreaks has also disrupted South Korea’s overseas shipments. Exports to China fell 27 percent year-on-year last month, while shipments to the US increased 6.7 percent, the trade ministry said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”