SEOUL: South Korea’s exports of agricultural and forestry products dropped significantly from a year earlier last month as shipments to all major markets except China continued to dwindle, the government said Monday.
Outbound shipments of food and other farmed products reached $457.6 million in August, down 9.3 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The cut was partly attributed to a large drop in shipments to Japan, previously the world’s single-largest importer of Korean foodstuff.
In August, shipments to Japan plunged 16 percent on-year to $87.9 million. Food exports to Japan in the first eight months of the year tumbled 10.9 percent on-year, while the country’s overall food exports only inched down 1.6 percent over the cited period.
Shipments to China, on the other hand, spiked 10.7 percent on-year to $90.9 million in August, making it the world’s single-largest importer of South Korean food products.
China is already the world’s largest importer of South Korean goods, including manufactured products, accounting for more than one-fourth of South Korea’s total exports last year.
Shipments to the United States slipped 6.6 percent on-year in August, while exports to Russia were more than halved to $9.3 million from $19.1 million a year earlier.
By product, shipments of fresh foodstuff, such as vegetables, plunged 12.9 percent to $75.9 million, while exports of processed foodstuff fell 8.5 percent over the cited period, according to the ministry.
