South Korea suffers 22.6 percent fall in trade with Russia amid war in Ukraine

Russia's war with Ukraine caused a 22.6 percent fall in South Korea's trade with Russia last year, according to a report by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA). [Yonhap]

SEOUL -- South Korea's volume of trade with Russia nosedived 22.6 percent to $21.15 billion in 2022 from a year before, affected by the latter's war with Ukraine, according to a report by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on February 21.

The KITA said that the plunge was in contrast to an average growth rate of 11.4 percent in 36 major countries' trade with Russia. India's trade with Russa skyrocketed 237 percent year-on-year last year, followed by Greece with 107.8 percent and Turkey with 102.7 percent.

Korea's exports to Russia plunged 36.6 percent to $6.33 billion in 2022 from $9.98 billion in 2021, according to the KITA. The decline was less steep than that of key advanced countries. The U.S. saw its export to Russia tumbled 73.2 percent.

Britain's exports to Russia also fell sharply 63.7 percent. Germany and Japan suffered a fall of 49.7 percent and 41.1 percent, respectively, in their exports to Russia.

However, Turkey's exports to Russia surged 55.1 percent, followed by Brazil with 29.8 percent, Slovenia with 15.4 percent and China with 12.8 percent.

The KITA said that Russia shifted to China, Turkey, Brazil and some other countries for imports last year as the country found it difficult to bring in products from major Western countries due to the U.S.-led economic sanctions.

South Korea's shipments of cars and auto parts to Russia plunged sharply, leading the decline in its overall exports to the European country. Korea's imports from Russia dropped 14.6 percent year-on-year.

In the meantime, China managed to increase its exports of cars, auto parts, tires, excavators, tractors, plastics and synthetic resins to Russia, replacing Korean and German products, according to the KITA.

The KITA report said that the prolonged Russian war with Ukraine dealt a setback to the global economy whose 2022 growth projection was revised down to 3.4 percent from its earlier forecast of 4.4 percent.

The total global trade volume recorded a 3.5 percent increase last year, down from the previous projection of a 4.7 percent rise.

The global inflation rate soared 8.8 percent year-on-year, up from the pre-war prediction of 4.2 percent. The surge was attributed to runaway global prices of energy, food and raw materials in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

Park Yoon-bae ktybpark@ajunews.com

South Korea suffers 22.6 percent fall in trade with Russia amid war in Ukraine

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