The gap between South Korea and Japan's global export volumes has narrowed to an all-time low.
The Korea International Trade Association announced on the 29th that after analyzing Japan's Ministry of Finance's preliminary export figures, by the end of November this year, South Korea and Japan's global exports amounted to $622.386 billion and $642.598 billion, respectively. Therefore, the difference in global export values between South Korea and Japan was approximately $20.212 billion. This is an all-time low.
The gap in export volumes between the two countries decreased from $303.6 billion in 2010 to $155.2 billion in 2013 and maintained a range of $100 billion until 2021 ($111.6 billion). It recorded an all-time low after $63.24 billion in 2022 and $85.035 billion last year.
This year, South Korea's export performance improved significantly with exports to the United States, China, and ASEAN, which account for 54.9% of the total exports, increasing sharply. In contrast, Japan's key industries, such as automobiles, shipbuilding, and intermediate goods, are struggling due to competition from China and South Korea. Despite the yen's depreciation since the end of last year, the accelerated transfer of major corporations' overseas production bases is one of the reasons for the overall decline in export volume. Typically, a weaker yen leads to increased exports of Japanese products.
The slow export items for Japan this year included petroleum products (-16.9%), internal combustion engines (-17.4%), and metal oxide salts, a secondary battery material (-22.6%). Additionally, 'bulldozers and other construction machinery' and 'flat-rolled products,' which each have an export value exceeding 1 trillion yen, decreased by 6.6% and 4.0%, respectively.