Exports hit an all-time high last year, but the trade payments that corporations actually brought into the country were the smallest in five years.
Analysts say corporations increasingly left dollars parked overseas rather than repatriating them, amid expectations of a stronger exchange rate and expanded reinvestment abroad.
According to the Korea Customs Service on the 1st, export corporations' trade payment receipts last year were $527.39 billion (provisional), down about 9.8% from the previous year ($584.309 billion). This is the smallest amount since 2020.
The gap between last year's declared export amount ($709.407 billion) and the actual receipts reached $182 billion, nearly double the previous year's.
Accordingly, the share of trade payments in total foreign currency inflows into the country fell to 39%. This is the first time in the past 10 years that the ratio has dropped below 40%. In the past, export proceeds accounted for more than half of foreign currency inflows, but their share has been falling quickly in recent years.
However, foreign exchange authorities say that since the start of this year, export corporations' dollar selling has gradually resumed.
Rhee Chang-yong, governor of the Bank of Korea, said, "Large corporations also brought in much of the foreign currency they held, and that problem (corporations not bringing in dollars) has been resolved."