Textiles, cars, and ships contribute greatly to exports last year

In recent years, industrial structure has transformed into Information Technology (IT), however, the greatest contributions to the trade budget were from textiles, cars, and ships.

According to the "Trade Budget by Item in 2000" report released by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) on February 9, among export items, textiles, cars, and vessels have led the trade surplus, while in contrast, energy, agricultural and fisheries products, showed big losses. As black-ink items, textiles topped the list with $13.2 billion, while cars followed with $12.9 billion, and vessels with $7.8 billion. These three items showed bigger trade surpluses than wireless communication equipment, $6.1 billion, IT equipment with $6.8 billion, and semi conductors with $6.1 billion.

Energy topped red-ink items with a $28.6 billion trade deficit under the influence of high oil costs. Agricultural and fisheries products followed with a $7.2 billion deficit. The third place red-ink items went to chemical products and precision machines, each at $4.8 billion in the red. Nonferrous metals followed at $2.7 billion.

Semiconductors, which held the lion's share as a single item, held 15 percent of total export cargoes with $26 billion, however semiconductor imports reached $19.9 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $ 6.1 billion.

IT equipment, such as computers, reached $14.7 billion in exports, while imports recorded $7 billion, leaving a $6.8 billion surplus.

The machinery industry was left far behind in export competition, with all sectors showing trade deficits: general machinery $600 million in the red, special machinery $700 million in the red, precision machinery $4 billion in the red, and machine parts $900 million in the red.