As the imported car market grew and overseas sales of Korean cars slowed down, the nation’s trade surplus in the auto parts sector has been on a steady decline.
According to recent statistics released by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Korea’s trade surplus of automobile parts by the end of May this year stood at US$7.54 billion, a 7.5% drop from the same period of last year.
Exports of automotive parts this year were US$ 9.949 billion, down 4.2 percent from the previous year, while imports of automotive parts sat at US$ 2.408 billion, up 7.6 percent from last year.
In fact, Korea’s auto parts exports have been on a decline since peaking at US$ 27.96 billion in 2014. In 2015, exports of auto parts were US$ 26.84 billion, down 4.2 percent from the previous year. They contracted 4.6 percent in 2016.
On the other hand, imports of automobile parts have been on a sharp rise in recent years. Despite a drop of 3.7 percent from a year earlier to US$ 5.095 billion in 2015, and last year, imports of auto parts were US$ 5.53 billion, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier.
As a result, Korea’s trade surplus in the auto parts sector is decreasing year by year. The surplus hit a record high of US$ 22.67 billion in 2014 and slid to US$ 21.79 billion in 2015 and US$ 20.31 billion in 2016.
The surplus has dropped for the third consecutive year this year. If this trend holds, this year’s trade surplus is expected to fall below US$ 20 billion within six years since chalking up US$ 17,151 million in 2011.
On the other hand, Korea imports high-tech auto parts mainly from Japan, the USA, Germany and France among others. Emerging markets such as China, Mexico, and Romania export low-priced auto parts to Korea.

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