South Korea’s reliance on China for semiconductor exports jumped nearly 13-fold in the last two decades and Seoul needs to take action to resolve any associated risks, a report said. | asianewsnetwork
The KCCI also noted a shift in the types of industries with heavier reliance on China.
This compares with the 2021 data in which precision instruments industry had the highest dependency with 42.5 percent. Fine chemistry and semiconductor each followed with 40.9 percent and 39.7 percent respectively. Glass and petrochemical came to 39.3 percent and 38.9 percent respectively, in the same period.
In 2000 – eight years after the trade ties were established – Korea’s exports to China remained at $18.5 billion, accounting for 10.7 percent of its entire outbound shipments. But it increased nine-fold to $162.90 in 2021, accounting for 25.3 percent of its total exports.