DAEGU < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(DAEGU=Yonhap News)The exports of Daegu hit the highest level last year, exceeding the USD 8 billion mark.

Meanwhile, Gyeongbuk's exports barely managed to pass the USD 40 billion threshold due to main export products' poor performance.

According to a report titled "Import and Export Trend and Assessment on Daegu·Gyeongbuk in 2018" published by KITA's Daegu· Gyeongbuk Center, the exports of Daegu reached USD 8.2 billion, a 12.3% increase from USD 7.21 billion in 2017.

Main products, such as auto parts (USD 1.02 billion, up 4.6%) and industrial machinery (USD 840 million, up 16.8%) drove the positive growth for the entire 4Q.

By contrast, the exports of Gyeongbuk region as a whole stayed at USD 40.91 billion, 8.8% drop from the previous year (USD 44.87 billion).

Main products such as wireless communications device (USD 7.43 billion, down 26.3%), and flat panel display (USD 2.83 billion, down 47.4%) continued to record poor performance.

KITA's Daegu·Gyeongbuk Center predicted that exports in this year will face a challenge of industrial structure reform with a transition: from internal combustion to electric and hydrogen vehicles in the auto part industry; LCD to OLED in the flat panel industry; and smart phone to foldable phone in the wireless phone industry.

An official said "the local government is asked to prepare for the external difficulties like increasing protectionism, global economic slowdown and restructuring of local industries," adding that "we will provide support with global marketing and training trade specialists."

yij@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

** This article was translated from Korean.

Source: Yonhap News (January 28, 2019)