According to Yonhap News,

(SEJONG=Yonhap News) South Korea's exports of industrial parts and materials reached a record high in 2014 with its trade surplus in the sector also climbing to an all-time high, the government said Wednesday.

Outbound shipments of industrial parts and materials rose 4.9 percent on-year to US$276 billion, accounting for 48 percent of the country's overall exports last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Exports of industrial parts grew 5.9 percent on-year to $188 billion with shipments of industrial materials gaining 3 percent to $88.1 billion.

The country's trade surplus in the sector widened to a record $107.9 billion as imports gained 1.6 percent on-year to $168.1 billion.

"The country's industrial parts and materials sector posted a trade surplus of over $100 billion for the first time, and in just 17 years since the country posted its first surplus in the sector in 1997," the ministry said in a press release.

Shipments to the United States jumped 13.4 percent on-year to $27.1 billion. Exports to Europe also climbed 10.1 percent to $32.7 billion.

Exports to China, the world's single largest importer of South Korean products, gained 4.1 percent on-year to $95.3 billion.

Shipments to Japan inched up to $14.1 billion from $13.9 billion in 2013, but the trade deficit with Japan continued to narrow as imports from the neighbor country plunged 11.6 percent on-year to $30.4 billion.

The ministry said the portion of Japanese industrial parts and materials in the country's overall imports came to a record low of 18.1 percent, compared with 25.2 percent in 2010 and 23 percent in 2012.

bdk@yna.co.kr

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