South Korea will redouble support for small and medium-sized exporters as the country seeks to increase its trade volume to over $1 trillion for the first time this year, a leading trade organization said Sunday.

The move comes as the country is also seeking to boost its exports by more than 11 percent this year to a record high of over $500 billion.

"Our trade continued growing toward the $1 trillion mark in the first quarter despite many unstable outside factors such as the earthquake in Japan and the rise of raw material and oil prices," Sakong Il, head of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), said at a press conference on this southern resort island of Jeju.

"But we still have a long way to go and urgently need systematic support for small and medium-size exporters in regional areas," he said.

As part of efforts to increase support for regional businesses, KITA on Thursday opened its regional office in Jeju, its 12th regional office and the first to open since 1997.

Jeju currently exports about $98 million worth of goods, mostly processed foodstuffs, along with some $250 million worth of products shipped overseas via exporters in other parts of the country.

The provincial government of Jeju, along with KITA, seeks to increase the total amount to over $800 million by 2014.

The trade association also plans to hire 30 business and trade consultants specifically to help with the needs of companies in regional areas, including Jeju.

The move follows the KITA chairman's trips this year to the organization's 12 regional offices where he said he personally received 171 suggestions and requests from businesses.

Of the total, nearly half, or 82 cases, were requests for increased assistance in dealing with overseas buyers, in addition to 33 requests for increased financial support for small and medium-sized businesses.

"Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized exporters in regional areas and expanding exports of our service industry are our key agendas," the KITA chairman said.

The support for the country's exporters will include 26.7 billion won ($24.9 million) in addition to KITA's 207 billion won trade support fund, currently offered at a low annual interest rate of 4 percent.

The association will also increase its efforts to help its 70,000 members utilize the country's free trade agreements, Sakong said.

Source: Yonhap News (May 1, 2011)