By Jung Suk-yee
The Bank of Korea announced on Dec. 29 that South Korea’s export value index was 124.58 last month, down 11.3 percent from a year ago. The index fell for the second consecutive month after 6.6 percent in October, the first fall in 24 months.
Last month, its export volume index fell 6.3 percent year on year to 118.31. Both the export value index and the export volume index showed the highest rate of decline since May 2020.
By contrast, the import value index rose 3.3 percent year on year to 164.54 and the import volume index rose 3.8 percent to 131.32. Those rose for 24 and five months in a row, respectively.
The net barter terms of trade index was 84.04 last month, down 4.9 percent from a year ago and down for 20 months in a row. This index indicates how much a country can import with its unit export. The income terms of trade index, 99.43, fell 10.9 percent year on year. This index indicates how much a country can import with its total export.
