There is an outlook that Korea's exports could reach $1 trillion this year.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on the 31st, Korea's annual exports last year came to $709.3 billion. It was achieved seven years after reaching $600 billion in exports in 2018 and ranks sixth in the world.
This year's uptrend is steeper than ever. Cumulative exports through April surged 40.9% from a year earlier to $306.5 billion, the highest on record. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) in February set this year's export target at $740 billion, up 4.3% from last year, but the dominant view is that exports will far exceed the target.
The government, research institutes, and the financial investment industry have all sharply revised up this year's export forecasts. Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said at a press briefing on the 27th, "There are other variables, so we are cautious, but we expect exports to exceed $900 billion this year."
The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET), a state-run research institute, also said in its second-half economic and industrial outlook released on the 26th that this year's exports will reach $924.4 billion, up 30.3% from last year. If Korea's exports reach $900 billion this year, it is expected to overtake Japan, which recorded $738.2 billion last year, and reemerge as one of the world's top five trading powers.
Reliance on the semiconductor industry remains high, but exports in other areas are also rising sharply. In fact, in January–April this year, consumer goods such as beauty (24.1%), fashion (13.7%), and food (7.8%) are climbing quickly.
Some say that as the semiconductor industry experiences a super boom, achieving $1 trillion in exports this year is possible. Meritz Securities analyzed that Korea's exports this year will surge 44.2% from last year to $1.02 trillion.