South Korea’s exports of farmed goods shrank significantly last month with shipments of both fresh foodstuff and processed products slipping, the government said Tuesday.
Outbound shipments of agricultural and food products amounted to $480.4 million in May, down 8.1 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The drop was partly attributed to large cuts in exports to Japan and Russia, both of whom have experienced weakening currencies over the past months, removing price competitiveness of not just farmed goods but any product from South Korea.
In May, shipments of agricultural goods to Japan dropped 14.4 percent on-year to $91.3 million, with shipments to Russia plunging 44.1 percent to $13 million.
Exports to China, on the other hand, rose 7.8 percent on-year to $82.8 million while shipments to the United States remained unchanged from a year earlier at $43.3 million, according to the ministry.
By type, shipments of fresh foodstuff, such as vegetables and meat, plunged 19.5 percent on-year to $75.8 million while exports of processed goods, including tobacco and instant noodles, also slipped 5.6 percent to $404.6 million.
In the first five months of the year, the country’s exports of farmed goods came to some $2.47 billion, down 1.3 percent from the same period in 2014, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
