Korea’s export environment turns out to improve entering the second quarter in semiconductor, shipbuilding, automotive and its components sectors expecting to clearly recover from the last year when the business bottomed up. The second quarter export business survey index reading climbed to a 12-quarter high to 116.0 since the second quarter of 2021 of 120.8 largely gaining compared to the prior quarter of 97.2, said the Korea International Trade Association(KITA) International Trade Affairs Research Institute. 8 products stood out their advance in particular including semiconductor(148.2), shipbuilding(127.6), and automotive & its components(124.5) in the reading, while semiconductor beat a 27-quarter high since the third quarter of 2017 of 148.8, added the Institute. The semiconductor export environment looks up consistent improvement ahead as the artificial intelligence industry continues to develop coupling with the growing demand for HBM as well. The export price is on an upswing thanks to the easing oversupply with memory unit. The shipbuilding sector looks to improve its export environment as high value added vessel related shipbuilding bookings are consistently rising focusing on eco-friendly ships like LNG carrier. The automotive related export environment is also expected to improve thanks to the rebounding economy in the major countries and rising export price alike. On the contrary, the readings in the steel and non-ferrous metal products(90.7), fiber and textile clothing(91.4) and machinery(96.0) turned to the downside pointing to improvement in the second quarter. Especially, the rising raw material prices are quoted as the serious factor that is not in their favor ahead.
by swkim
