Trade deficit with EU exceeds $10 billion in 2014

South Korea's trade deficit with the European Union has snowballed in recent years. According to the January issue of the Current Economic Situation published by the government, the country logged a trade deficit of about US$10.60 billion with EU in 2014.

The figure marks a 43.8 percent rise from $7.37 billion tallied in 2013.

The country had posted a trade surplus with the EU for the 14th straight year in 2011, before logging a deficit of $0.97 billion in 2012.

Trade deficit with EU began to spike as imports of luxury goods, such as cosmetics and hand bags, as well as automobiles from the EU increased steadily after both implemented a free trade agreement (FTA) in July 2011. In addition, the nation recently began to import crude oil from the region.

South Korea saw its imports of vehicles from the EU surge 50 percent in 2014 from the previous year, while its car exports to the region came to a standstill. BMW took the best-selling foreign-car brand title in 2014, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA). Three other German brands - Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Audi also ranked 2nd-4th.

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com