Cargo processed at South Korean seaports shrank nearly 6% in August from a year earlier despite a slight gain in exports, government data showed.
The volume of cargo handled by the country’s seaports came to 114.5 million tons last month, down 5.8% from 121.5 million tons tallied in the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
In August, South Korea’s exports rebounded to gain 2.6% to US$40.1 billion from a year ago, snapping a consecutive 19-month losing streak that started in January 2015.
Container cargo slipped 0.7% year-on-year last month to 2.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), while non-container cargo also retreated 8.7% to 78.6 million tons.
By port, the country’s largest one in Busan, located some 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, processed 1.6 million TEUs of cargo last month, down 2.9% from a year earlier.
As of end-August, Busan remained the world’s fifth largest seaport in cargo volume, with China’s Shanghai in the top spot, the ministry said.
HK export traffic, prices down
Hong Kong’s total exports of goods fell in volume by 2.6% in July 2016 year-over-year, with re-exports down by 2.6% and domestic exports falling by 4.0%, according to the latest statistics from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
Combined export volume to India and China decreased by 4.6% and 4.3%, respectively, in July 2016 year-over-year. On the other hand, exports to the U.S. and Japan increased by 2.9% and 4.2%, respectively, and those to Taiwan recorded a significant increase of 24.6%.
In the first seven months of 2016, the volume of overall merchandise decreased by 1.5% against the same period in 2015. Of this total, re-exports declined by 1.4%, while domestic exports decreased by 12.1%.
Comparing the three-month period ending July 2016 with the preceding three months on a seasonally adjusted basis, exports increased by 5.5%, of which re-exports grew by 5.6%, whereas exports decreased by 0.5%.
Meanwhile, CS&D said that juxtaposing July 2016 and July 2015, the prices of total exports of goods decreased by 2.2%. Prices of re-exports shrank by 2.2%, while those of domestic exports went down by 1.4%.
Over the same period of comparison, the total export prices to all main destinations decreased: India (-4.5%), Taiwan (-3.9%), U.S. (-3.3%), Japan (-2.6%), and China (-1.9%).
In the first seven months of 2016 the prices of re-exports of goods slid by 2.4%, while those of exports decreased by 2.5%. Taken together, the prices of total exports of goods decreased by 2.4%.
