South Korea'S Trade Deficit With China'S Clothing And Textiles Is 3 Billion 590 Million US Dollars.

　　 The Republic of Korea The Industrial Research Institute and the Korea Trade Association said on the 29 th that in 2013, the export volume of textiles and clothing to China was $2 billion 730 million in 2013, with an import volume of $6 billion 320 million and a deficit of US $3 billion 590 million. In 2002, after the first deficit of $410 million in textiles and clothing trade between China and South Korea, the deficit trend lasted for 12 years.

The deficit in the trade of textiles and clothing with China has exceeded 2 billion US dollars in the middle of 2000s, and increased to 2 billion 630 million, 3 billion 540 million and 3 billion 110 million US dollars from 2010 to 2012 respectively. In the first 5 months of this year, South Korea's exports to China amounted to US $1 billion 40 million, with an import volume of US $2 billion 470 million and a deficit of US $1 billion 430 million.

The Research Institute believes that China's labor costs are rising and relatively cheap Chinese clothing is flowing into Korea. Under these two factors, South Korea has an unfavorable balance between China's textile and clothing trade. Specifically, due to the rapid rise of labor costs in China, the Korean companies are moving their factories in China to Southeast Asia. The scale of the export of Korean textiles and clothing materials to China has been greatly reduced, which has led to the shrinking of the overall export volume of textiles and clothing.

The Institute also points out that the proportion of South Korea to the export of textiles and clothing to various countries is changing gradually. China has maintained the status of the largest export of textiles and clothing from South Korea in 2005. In 2013, the share of Korea's exports to China and Vietnam was 17.1% and 15.7% respectively. China is still the largest export destination in South Korea. In the 1-5 month of this year, Vietnam (16.5%) surpassed China (15.6%) for the first time and became Korea's new largest export destination.

The research institute said that the Chinese market has great potential for development. It is suggested that South Korean enterprises should get rid of the export mode dominated by textile materials, and develop a clothing based export expansion program. In particular, we need to actively utilize Korean elements such as Korean dramas and K-pop to carry out garment marketing, and lay a solid foundation for entering the Chinese garment market.