South Korea’s major export items such as automobiles bore the brunt of a weaker Japanese yen with their shipments falling in the first two months of the year, a report showed on Monday.

According to the report compiled by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), 24 out of 49 export items which are in direct competition with Japanese goods in overseas markets saw their export growth slow or overseas sales decline in the January-February period compared with a year earlier.

Only nine South Korean goods such as mobile phones and liquid crystal displays (LCD) posted double-digit growth in their overseas sales during the cited period.

The surveyed items account for more than half of South Korea’s exports in terms of value.

A weak yen makes Japanese products less expensive in global markets, posing a challenge for South Korean exporters vying against Japanese competitors in many areas.

The yen has depreciated some 13 percent to the U.S. dollar so far this year, driven by Japan’s powerful monetary easing measures, and South Korea’s currency has declined around 6 percent to the greenback amid heightened geopolitical risks and a stronger dollar.

The report showed that exports of South Korean petrochemicals, automobiles and machinery were most affected by the Japanese yen’s slide during the cited period with shipments of petrochemical goods contracting 0.7 percent in the first two months of the year, compared with a 44 percent on-year gain a year earlier.

On the other hand, exports of petrochemicals made by Japanese rivals posted a 4 percent rise in the January-February period, a sharp turnaround from a 42 percent decline a year earlier, the report showed.

South Korea’s automobile industry was one of the business sectors hit hardest by the weaker yen with overseas shipments by the country’s five automakers dropping 5 percent from a year earlier to 518,251 units in the January-February period, according to earlier reports.

Exports of diesel-powered passenger cars manufactured by South Korean firms dropped 12 percent in the January-February period, compared with a 60 percent rise a year earlier.

Japanese automakers, in contrast, saw their exports of diesel-powered autos surge 12 percent during the cited period, a sharp turnaround from a 36 percent drop a year earlier, the report showed. (Yonhap News)