SEOUL: South Korea’s exports of agricultural and processed food products gained more than 4 percent from a year earlier last month on the strength of shipments to many major markets, the government said.
Outbound shipments of food and other farm products reached US$532.7 million in the one-month period, up 4.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
In September, exports of all South Korean-made products were down 8.4 percent on-year.
The gain in exports of farm produce and foodstuffs was due to increased shipments to the United States, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Taiwan, which offset a drop in foodstuffs going to Japan and China, it said.
In September, shipments to the U.S. jumped 11.4 percent on-year to $55.5 million, with numbers for ASEAN and Taiwan advancing 4.7 percent and 38.8 percent to $78 million and $23.3 million, respectively. Exports to the European Union and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council also rose 8.9 percent and 22.6 percent compared to the year before.
In contrast, goods shipped to Japan, traditionally South Korea’s largest overseas market, fell 9.8 percent on-year to $92.1 million, with sales to China backtracking 6.9 percent to $91.5 million.
In the nine months of this year so far, farm and processed food exports dipped 0.9 percent from a year earlier. The total shipped out stood at $4.52 billion, down from $4.56 billion last year.
Data showed that exports of fresh produce dropped 14.6 percent, while processed food moved up 2.1 percent.
Shipments to Japan dropped 10.8 percent on-year while numbers for China and the United States rose 7.2 percent and 5 percent each.
