South Korea’s recent export trends of mobile phones revealed a 23 percent plunge year-on-year to a 16-year low last year, caused by sluggish growth in demand from China amid fiercer competition in the Chinese market.
Export volume for mobile phones amounted to $14.61 billion last year, down 23.2 percent or $4.42 billion compared with the previous year, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation.
The amount was considered the lowest in 16 years since 2002 in a time when South Korea achieved an export volume amounting to $11.36 billion for mobile phones.
The nation’s exports of mobile phones attained a record high in 2008, recording $33.44 billion and thus outpacing the existing mainstay semiconductor exports of $32.79 billion. And then exports started to fall below $30 billion in 2009, declining to $20 billion in 2017.
By region, mobile phone exports to China including Hong Kong decreased sharply by 37 percent to $4.3 billion on year last year amid fiercer competition with local rivals such as Huawei. For exports to the United States, recognized as the world’s premium phone market, it turned out that Korean exports fell by 10 percent to $5.05 billion, but the decline was relatively limited, permitting the U.S. market to replace China as the biggest market for South Korean mobile phones exports.
However, on the positive side, exports of semiconductors in 2018 grew to a record high of $128.15 billion, nearly nine times larger than exports of mobile phone exports.
Since South Korean smartphone companies appear to have suddenly lost their dominance of the world’s biggest mobile phone markets in recent years, manufacturers are forced to naturally position themselves to seek alternative tactics. These include launching new budget phone models to increase their global presence in emerging markets, and introducing high specifications such as a quad-lens camera, 5G network and foldable form factor to entice smartphone demand worldwide. (Source: KITA)
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potentials increased 4.2 times and 3.8 times, respectively.”
The Latin American medical equipment market is expected to grow 8.4% over the next five years, running to US$12.2 billion in 2016. Korea’s medical equipment exports to Latin America expanded more than 9% year on year to about US$100 million in the third quarter of 2017 with those to Argentina and Mexico surging 50% and 20%, respectively.
“Korean medical equipment companies are making forays into Europe and Latin America thanks to stronger competitiveness of the Korean medical equipment industry which has grown into the world’s ninth largest,” commented Yun Won-seak, head of the Information and Commerce Cooperation Headquarters at KOTRA.
Macroscopically, after oil exports taking a hit due to the independence of South Sudan that took over 75% of overall oil deposits, Sudan has been unable to overcome its reform of economic structure completely.
lifting of economic sanctions on Sudan, which lasted for the past 20 years.
With this sanctions lifting, Sudan is expected to vitalize imports and exports due to restrictions on finance and foreign exchange being eased in the short run. In the longer term, foreign investment and infrastructure project development are expected to expand. For a long time, Sudan has faced difficulties such as extremely low foreign exchange, price spikes and depreciation of its own currency.
purchasing contract, which gave our companies a hard time. It is expected that this sanction release will liberalize foreign exchange so that depreciation of its currency against the dollar can be stabilized. Recent rebound of its currency against the dollar reflects its expectation of sanctions lifting.
cutting-edge new materials sparked off by a global economic recovery
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