Big S.Korean companies depend more on China for revenue

Big businesses in South Korea, which had already depended heavily on China for their revenue, raised dependence on the world's No.2 economy in recent years for sales growth, a local corporate data provider said Tuesday.

According to CEO Score, 38 out of top 200 South Korean companies, which have reported overseas sales via the regulatory filing, recorded revenue in China worth 145 trillion won (133 billion U.S. dollars) in 2013.

The China revenue of the 38 corporations surged 34.6 percent in the past two years from 108 trillion won in 2011 to 131 trillion won in 2012 to 145 trillion won in 2013.

The growth rate was much faster than a 19.9-percent increase in global revenue of these companies. If including other big businesses' data such as SK Innovation and Doosan Heavy Industries that rely heavily on China for sales, dependence of South Korean companies on China would have been much higher.

The companies'revenue in China accounted for 17.5 percent of the total in 2013, rising from 15.6 percent in 2011.

Samsung Electronics depended most on China, with its revenue in China amounting to 40 trillion won last year, or 17.6 percent of the total. The rate was 3.6 percentage points higher than two years earlier.

It was followed by Hyundai Motor, with its revenue in China reaching 19.4 trillion won last year, or 18.2 percent of the total.