Taiwan's trade deficit with S. Korea soared 50% in Jan.-Nov. 2004

Taipei, Jan. 6, 2005 (CENS)--Taiwan's trade deficit with S. Korea shot up some 50% to US$5.62 billion in the first 11 months of 2004 from US$4.11 billion of one year earlier, according to the statistics compiled by the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

The statistics showed that in November of 2004 alone, Taiwan suffered a deficit of US$670 million in trade with S. Korea, up 50.9% from the same month of 2003. BOFT estimated Taiwan's trade deficit with S. Korea might break the US$6 billion mark for 2004, next only to that with Japan.

Huang Chih-peng, director general of BOFT, indicated that Taiwan started to suffer trade deficit with S. Korea in 1989, and ever since the deficit has been growing. As a result, S. Korea became Taiwan's second-largest trade-deficit source in 1998. To help narrow the trade gap with S. Korea, Huang is trying to urge S. Korea's companies in Taiwan to expand their purchases here and encourage the associations of Taiwan's industries, particularly textile, machinery, and electronics, to organize trade promotion groups to tap the market in S. Korea.

In the Jan.-Nov. period of 2004, Taiwan's exports to S. Korea increased by 18% from the corresponding period of 2003 and imports posted a sharp rise of 33.4%. Of the imported products from S. Korea, 93% were industrial products, including flat-rolled stainless steel products, specific machines & machinery, and float glass & polished glass, with each of them recording a whopping annual growth of more than 100%.

BOFT analyzed that among Taiwan's imports from S. Korea, electronic products, information technology (IT) products and petrochemical products were major items, which largely led to Taiwan's trade deficit with S. Korea. Integrated circuit (IC) products & related micro parts saw the largest trade deficit of US$2.68 billion, followed by such petrochemical products as p-xylene and hydrocarbons. Besides, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices and mobile phones were also leading contributors to Taiwan's trade deficit with S. Korea.

Taiwan top-10 export items to S. Korea in 2004
Items	Export value (US$M)	Rank	Growth (%)
IC & related micro parts	1,880.4	1	36.8
Printed circuit boards (PCB)	233.2	2	75.7
Computer parts	197.9	3	-0.7
Audio & video signal devices	191.5	4	25.9
Petroleum & related refined oil products	184.8	5	-58.6
Blank medium for audio or video recording	181.6	6	80.8
Diode, transistors & pseudo semiconductor devices	147.7	7	74.1
LCD devices	147.5	8	-23.0
Flat-rolled stainless steel products	88.8	9	20.2
Synthetic fiber filament	82.8	10	37.0

Taiwan top 10 import items from S. Korea in 2004
Items	Import value (US$M)	Rank	Growth (%)
IC & related micro parts	4,559.5	1	57.6
Naphthene	689.9	2	30.4
LCD devices	531.0	3	-21.8
Mobile phones & wireless devices	446.5	4	-1.0
Computer parts	247.4	5	5.6
Hydrocarbons	189.3	6	41.3
Data processors & related accessories	162.0	7	-49.1
Specific machines & machinery	139.5	8	141.5
Diode, transistors & pseudo semiconductor devices	115.7	9	41.4
Flat-rolled stainless steel products	113.4	10	296.2

Source: The Inspectorate General of Customs