Korea's Trade Deficit With Chile Widens
By Seo Jee-yeon
Staff Reporter, Korea Times
The nation¡¯s trade deficit with Chile widened to $528 million in the five months since a free trade agreement (FTA) took effect on April 1.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) reported Tuesday that last year, Korea sustained a shortfall of $541 million in its trade with Chile with imports of $1.05 billion against $517 million in exports.
For the first seven months of this year, exports to Chile jumped 23.2 percent from the same period last year to $389 million, while imports skyrocketed 95 percent, the MOCIE reported.
The widening deficit was attributed to a steep price rise in imports of copper products, crude copper, petrochemical products, paper materials and meat products.
``Due to high prices of raw materials as well as the popularity of Chilean wine, the trade deficit jumped. But the trade imbalance is not that serious,¡¯¡¯ an MOCIE official said.
Automobiles topped the list of exports with $125.37 million, followed by synthetic plastics ($36.29 million), telecommunication equipment ($30.57 million), petrochemical products ($20.3 million) and home appliances ($16.44 million).
Copper products took the bulk of imports with $577.5 million, trailed by crude copper ($286.64 million), petrochemical products ($56.46 million), paper materials ($56.36 million) and meat products ($27.63 million).
jyseo@koreatimes.co.kr
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