55 Korean export items same with China and Japan

Korea suffers the most severe export competition with two other countries, China and Japan, as many export items overlap.
According to research from the Korea Foreign Trade Association on August 12th, the three countries showed 18 common export items during the first half this year, adding five more items from 13 in 2000.
On the other hand, original items that do not overlap with other countries?export items decreased to 45 at the end of July, down from 46 in 2002, 55 in 2000 and 62 in 1998.
Among the top 100 export items, Korea had 53% of them overlap with Japanese products, Japan had 39.8% overlap with Korea, while Korean products overlapping with Chinese rose to 41.3%. China had 24.3% overlapping items with Korea.
Among the Harmonized Commodity Description and Cording System (HS, Harmonized System), the original products that did not overlap with Japanese export items and Chinese items were only two items, tankers and petrochemicals. Computer accessories, TV parts overlapped with both China and Japan. Semi-conductors, cars, cargo vessels, and car parts were major items overlapping with Japan.
The usual overlapping items in the top 100 were electronics and instruments. Korea had common exports in instruments, steel, and cars with Japan as well as electronics, fibers, and materials with China.
The association said that with severe competition for common export items, it is time for Korea to develop technology and foster potential new industries.