SEOUL- South Korea’s trade volume reached $1 trillion for the year on Tuesday and is set for a record in 2021, the country’s customs agency said, rebounding from a four-year low seen in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit global trade.
The country’s trade volume hit that milestone only seven times previously in history but later in those respective years, the customs agency said.
“Should this trend continue, this year’s annual trade volume will set a record amount, signaling a complete recovery from the COVID-19 impact,” the Korea Customs Service said in a statement.
The trade volume reached that level at 1:53 p.m. (0453 GMT), combining $512.2 billion in exports volume and $487.8 billion in imports volume, the agency said.
South Korea’s trade volume was $980.1 billion in 2020, the lowest since 2016.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s trade-reliant economy is expected to have expanded at a slower pace in the third quarter due to the island’s COVID-19 outbreak, a Reuters poll showed, though supported by export growth and healthy global demand for semiconductors.
Gross domestic product (GDP) likely expanded 4 percent in the July-September period versus a year ago, the poll of 27 economists shows, after it grew 7.43 percent year-on-year in the second quarter.
That would be its slowest rate of growth since logging 5.09 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
As a key hub in the global technology supply chain for giants such as Apple Inc, Taiwan’s economy has outperformed many of its regional peers during the COVID-19 pandemic as it benefited from robust demand for its tech exports during the work-and-study-from-home trend.
But domestic consumption was hit by a rare rise in community COVID-19 transmissions starting mid-May and imposition of strict restrictions on gatherings and other curbs. The outbreak has now ended, and the government has been issuing shopping coupons to help restore consumer confidence.
Economists’ forecasts for preliminary GDP data due on Friday varied widely from growth of 2.5 percent to as high as 6.5 percent.
Kevin Wang, an economist at Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co, said the drop-off in growth was because of the impact on consumption from the COVID-19 outbreak at home.
“At present, although exports in the third quarter have eased, they are still not bad. Investment seems to be OK too,” he added.
Firms like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) have also seen demand soar from a global shortage of chips that has shuttered some auto production lines and affected consumer electronics.
