Japan Again Korea's Biggest Export Rival

(THE CHOSUNILBO) Japan has returned to being Korea's biggest competitor on the export front, while their biggest battle ground is the U.S. market. In China, Korean exports are managing to maintain the top spot, but U.S. exports are catching up quickly.

In a report on Sunday, Hyundai Research Institute compared the market shares of Korean products in overseas markets and put direct competition with Japan at 58.8 points last year. By comparison, competition with the U.S. was 48.8 points and with China 44.8 points.

The figure is meant to reflect how similar the export structures of two countries are to each other, and the higher the number the more heated the competition. Perfect similarity would produce a reading of 100.

Competition between Korea and Japan in the U.S. was an even higher 61.2, which was more than competition with Germany (54.3) and China (36.8).

In China, the second-largest export market, the figure stood at 58.8 points, but U.S. exports were a bigger threat. Korea sold US$174.3 billion worth of products to China last year, taking the No. 1 market share, while Taiwan came second with $145.5 billion worth.

The U.S. exported $144 billion worth to China, led by high-value-added products such as the iPhone and passenger planes, to overtake Japan for the No. 3 spot.

Baek Da-mi at the institute said, "If Korean companies want to compete with the U.S. and Japan in the Chinese market, they need to differentiate themselves in materials and components technology."