[THE INVESTOR] Partly due to the Hanjin Shipping crisis, South Korea’s exports decreased this month, data showed Monday.
According to the Korea Customs Service, the amount of exports fell by 3.6 percent on-year to $13.5 billion for the period of Sept.1-10.
The monthly export amount rebounded in August with a 2.6 percent rise, after 19 months of decline.
By types of exported items, telecommunication-related equipment, vehicles, and home electronics plummeted by 21.3 percent, 30.8 percent and 25.7 percent, respectively.
By region, exports to the US, European Union countries and China declined by 13.4 percent, 6.5 percent and 9 percent, respectively, while exports to Hong Kong and Japan increased by 12.7 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.
The customs agency remained cautious about the impact Hanjin is having on exports.
“While Hanjin Shipping does not make up a very large proportion of Korea’s total exports, (the KCS) is cautiously watching the export circumstances over (the Hanjin issue),” said the agency.
As of late Sunday, 56 Hanjin vessels have had their operations disrupted, with many stranded at sea. The number of disrupted vessels dropped over the weekend as the US granted the company provisional protection from creditors Friday.
On Saturday, Hanjin’s Greece container ship docked at the Long Beach port in California after days on standby.
As part of the moves to help normalize freight transportation, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has vowed to dispatch public staff to local shippers and logistics companies to better receive complaints from them and provide administrative support.
It also decided to provide loans of 400 billion won ($360 million) to forwarders which have faced financial challenges over the rising cost of transporting the cargo.
As of Monday morning, a total of 329 export damage reports were received by the Korea International Trade Association since Sept. 1. The related invoice value is estimated to be around $120 million.
Amid the Hanjin crisis, local forwarders have complained that shipping costs to reach destinations have jumped while the subject of shouldering additional costs remains unclear.
Each forwarder will be eligible for loans of up to 2 billion won with an interest rate of 2.97 percent, the ministry said.
The ministry also decided deploy 11 additional alternative vessels for Southeast Asia-bound routes.
The government initially planned to deploy only 13 vessels for Europe and US routes. The first one from Hyundai Merchant Marine left for the US on Friday.
By Lee Hyun-jeong/The Korea Herald ()
