For three consecutive months of deficit, what should I do if the Korean government has discussed trade with China?

[Global Times Special Reporter Zhang Jing Global Times reporter Wang Dong, a special reporter in South Korea] For many consecutive months, has experienced a trade deficit in China, making South Korea began to discuss response measures. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce Resources of the South Korean Industry invited experts in various fields to hold the "Korean -China Trade Strategic Consultation Conference" on August 3 to discuss the achievements and development directions of South Korea -China economic and trade cooperation. At present, many major industries in South Korea have cooperation and competition with China at the same time. Experts said that overall, South Korea's manufacturing level has a slight advantage than China. China's manufacturing competitiveness is improved at the same time as the industrial system. In the future, China and South Korea's trade should take advantage of their strengths and play their respective advantages.

Continuous deficit setting a record

South Korea ’s“ NEWS 1 ”website reported on August 3 that the South Korean Ministry of Commerce Resource Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce and the Minister of Commerce Andgen said when attending the Korean -China Trade Strategic Consultation Conference on the same day: Creating a environment for Korean and China to stabilize trade and investment is very important. " Andgen said that in order to further expand the trade and investment activities of Korean and Chinese enterprises, the trading authorities of the two countries should lead the formation of official and civil communication channels, and to greaterly make good use of the China -Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Participating experts said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea in 1992, China has established the position of South Korea's largest trading partner. The economic and industrial network of the two countries is closely linked. In the future, it will need to further expand and promote more substantial cooperation. Andgen said that recently used the opportunity of the WTO ministerial meeting to meet the Chinese side, and also contacted the South Korean ambassador to China, hoping to further strengthen the communication between enterprises between the two countries, and the Korean government will establish a new strengthening of the China industry in the next step. Cooperation policy.

South Korea ’s Ministry of Industry and Commercial Resources said on August 1 that in July, South Korea’ s trade with China ’s trade revenue and expenditure of US $ 570 million. Following the deficit of US $ 1.09 billion and US $ 1.21 billion in May and June, South Korea has developed a deficit for three consecutive months in China. This is the first time that South Korea has traded in China for three consecutive months since August to October 1992. In July, South Korea's trade revenue and expenditure appeared $ 4.67 billion in deficits, which was a trade deficit again after 14 years in South Korea.

Competitive concerns

"South Korea Economic News" reported that as China's technological competitiveness is continuously improved, the market that South China and China trade may fall into structural deficit in the market. From the perspective of overall trade, based on the 10 major export varieties in South Korea, the export volume to China only increased by 10.9%from the 1st to 25th last month, and the remaining varieties stagnated or decreased. In contrast, the imports of the main varieties have increased significantly from China. The imports of fiber, semiconductor, ordinary machinery, computer and other major products have increased.

Data Map

It is reported that the South Korean government believes that the trade deficit with China is caused by the slowdown of China's economic economic slowdown and China's epidemic in the first half of the year. However, with the development of China's technology and the cultivation of the Chinese domestic demand market, people are increasingly worried about whether South Korea's export competitiveness of China is fundamentally declining.

In the first half of 2022, the Korean power battery company market faced competition in Chinese companies, and its global share plummeted. The Yonhap News Agency reported on August 2 that the data released by the Korean market research institution Sne Research showed that the global market share of the three major automobile battery manufacturers in South Korea in the first half of this year fell sharply year -on -year. The global market share of three Korean companies, including LG New Energy, SK ON, Samsung SDI, decreased by 9.1 percentage points year -on -year to 25.8%. In contrast, the global market share of Chinese manufacturers has increased significantly. The market share of Ningde Times rose by 6.2 percentage points year -on -year to 34.8%, ranking first; BYD increased by 5%year -on -year to 11.8%, ranking third. According to SNE analysis, Chinese enterprises such as Ningde Times and BYD drove overall market growth, and Chinese enterprises that entered the top ten achieved three -digit high growth.

The trade pattern may usher in adjustment

"Is there a problem with the Chinese market or a problem in South Korea's competitiveness?" The report of "South Korea Economy" reported on August 3. During July 27th, the South Korean Congress asked the government in question, Prime Minister Han Dezhi's statement about "it is difficult to look forward to South Korea's exports to China again" and once again triggered a significant report by the media.

South Korea said that South Korea has continuously appeared in trade deficit with China after 28 years, and it is necessary to conduct in -depth analysis of this. 88%of South Korea's exports to China are intermediate products, and there are sounds to blame the deficit on the new crown pneumonia. However, China's trade surplus reached a record high in June. Whether it is South Korea's overall trade deficit or China's trade deficit, a more reasonable explanation seems to be a problem with South Korea's export competitiveness and export structure.

"South Korea Economy" reports that the problem of South Korea's exports to China is a problem of South Korea's industrial capacity. Samsung is the world's leading smartphone manufacturer, but its market share in China is 0.4%. China is the world's largest automotive market with 26.5 million cars in the world. However, as the world's fifth largest automotive production country in South Korea, the share of automobile brands in the Chinese automobile market has dropped from 10%to 1%at its peak period. These two examples can explain that there is a problem with the competitiveness of the Korean industry.

South Korea is considered a power of information and communication technology (ICT), but this has become the past. A survey by the South Korean Information and Communication Planning Institute showed that South Korea's proud ICT field was surpassed by China in 2018 and the gap is expanding. Among the 8 major areas of ICT, South Korea only occupies the relative advantages of the Internet of Things (IoT), and in the remaining 7 fields, China occupies the upper hand. Many Koreans believe that on the occasion of the fourth industrial revolution, South Korea has lost its advantages in China in traditional industries such as steel, chemical industry, machinery, shipbuilding, home appliances, and automobiles. The production base may not be imagined. Bai Ming, a researcher at the International Trade Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce on August 4th, told the Global Times reporter that the level of transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry is gradually increasing, and at the same time, the overall scale competitiveness has gone up. Change may be a trend. At present, the level of manufacturing in South Korea is slightly ahead of China, but the situation of the two countries' trade is not completely related to the development level.

"Trade opportunities depends not only on the level and scale. It may be high in manufacturing, but the total amount cannot be taken out." Bai Ming said that China's industrial chain is larger and the industrial system is more complete. In the future, the cooperation between China and South Korea not only depends on the scale, but also depends on the degree of complementarity between each other. Especially in the process of the docking of the industrial chain, they should take advantage of their strengths. The dividend of the dividends increases cooperation with each other.

- END -