Korea still No. 9 exporter for 2009

With overseas shipments thriving, Korea remained in the top 10 global exporters through the third quarter of 2009.

Exports in the first nine months of the year totaled $260.1 billion, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said yesterday. That puts Korea in ninth place, just behind Belgium, which exported goods worth $269.3 billion during the same period.

For all of 2008, Korea was the world’s No. 12 exporter.

Since then it has broken into the top 10, one of only three countries to do so since 1950.

The others are Japan and China, the latter of which remained the world’s largest exporter from January to September, with $846.7 billion in shipments, followed by Germany in second with $806 billion. The United States was third at $759.5 billion, and Japan was the fourth-largest exporter with $405.7 billion.

Britain rounded out the top 10 with $258.6 billion in exports, with Canada behind in 11th with $233.5 billion.

“Unless some major factor suddenly arises that would have a huge influence on Korea’s trade and shift its position, at the end of this year Korea will become one of the top 10 exporters, which would be the first time [for a full year],” said an official with the Knowledge Economy Ministry.

Meanwhile, Korea notched a trade surplus of $30.1 billion in the first nine months of this year, the fifth highest among the top 15 exporters. China ranked first, followed by Germany, Russia and the Netherlands. Japan ranked eighth with a trade surplus of $11 billion.

Though Korean exports have declined since last year, the fall was gentler when compared to the rest of the world.

The on-year decrease in exports worldwide was 27.8 percent in the first nine months, while Korea’s overseas shipments fell 20.9 percent, showing competitive growth despite the global economic downturn.

By Lee Ho-jeong [ojlee82@joongang.co.kr]