South Korea's December exports and imports grew more than expected to hit monthly and annual record highs, data showed on Sunday, but the country said overseas sales would slow in 2012 on cooling demand in the euro zone and China.
Increasing relocation abroad by South Korean companies for production of key export goods and the end of a demand boost from the troubles at Japanese companies after the early 2011 earthquake would also weigh on exports in 2012, the government said.
"Depressed consumer sentiment in the advanced countries and the possible spread of such a pattern into the emerging countries will affect exports," the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement.
The world's seventh-largest exporter now sees overseas shipments growing 6.7 percent for all of 2012 and imports rising 8.7 percent, slowing after growth of 19.6 percent and 23.3 percent, respectively, in 2011. In December 2011, exports grew 12.5 percent to $49.7 billion in December from a year earlier and imports by 14.0 percent to $45.7 billion, both hitting record highs and producing a surplus of $4.0 billion, data from the ministry showed.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.