Korea’s December export prices drop the most in almost 14 years

Korea’s December export prices drop the most in almost 14 years. [Photo by MK DB]

South Korea’s export prices in December fell the most in almost 14 years due to a stronger won, a fall in crude oil prices and weak global demand for the country’s key products such as semiconductors and chemical products.

The December export prices index stood at 118.03, a 6 percent drop from a month earlier, the Bank of Korea said Friday. The index has been on a downward trend for two consecutive months and is the biggest drop since April 2009. Still, it’s 3.1 percent higher than a year ago.

Export price of coal and petroleum products fell 13.6 percent in December from a month earlier. Chemical products fell 6.2 percent, and computers electronic and optical equipment fell 5.2 percent also compared to November.

Export price of diesel fell 15.5 percent, jet fuel declined 14.5 percent, gasoline fell 12.4 percent, xylene fell 10.3 percent, DRAM slipped 6.1 percent and system chips dropped 5.3 percent.

“A strong won, a fall in global crude oil prices, low demand driven by the global economic slowdown, have all led to price falls in coal and petroleum products, chemical products, computers & electronics and optical equipment,” said the Bank of Korea.

[Source : Yonhap]

The December import prices index was 138.63, a 6.2 percent drop from November. The index fell for a second month and is the biggest decline since January 2015. Compared to December 2021, the figure rose 9.1 percent.

Crude and other mining products, and coal and petroleum products mostly led the fall in import prices, declining 10.5 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively. Crude prices slipped to $77.22 in December, from $86.26 in November, a 10.5 percent drop.

Specifically, crude oil was down 14.9 percent, naphtha down 10.6 percent, jet fuel down 14.7 percent and xylene down 11.4 percent. Chicken saw a 17.2 percent fall.

The yearly average export prices index in 2022 was 126.30, a 16.6 percent increase, and import prices index was 147.94 on average, a 25.9 percent up from the year before. Both recorded their highest increase since the 2008 financial crisis when the export index grew 21.8 percent and import index grew 36.2 percent.

“The won-dollar rate rose 12.9 percent and global oil prices rose 39.1 percent over the year,” the central bank said. “Export price increase was mostly led by coal and petroleum products, and chemical products. The import price increase was also led by raw materials, as well as intermediate goods, like coal and petroleum products, and chemical products,” the bank explained.