ULSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

Due to Japan's devastating earthquake, Ulsan-based companies' exports to Japan grew twice last year.

Korea Trade Association (KTA) said Ulsan-based companies' exports to Japan grew a whopping 104.8 percent in 2011 from a year earlier with $8.95 billion.

Ulsan's trade balance with Japan turned positive from negative in 2009 and 2010 with recording $5.97 billion of imports from Japan.

Oil refinery and automotive businesses in Ulsan turned out to be the largest beneficiary of the Japan's disaster.

Oil exports to Japan increased with the country's growing demands while automotive businesses saw the increase in exports to the U.S. market due to Japanese component manufacturers' failure to supply products.

"The dramatic rise in imports to Japan was a major force to make Ulsan record $100 billion in annual exports. Korean companies should replace Japanese-made parts and materials with Korean-made ones and diversify supply channels to respond to geological risks such as Japan's earthquake," said Kim Eun-yeong, a member of the KTA.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Mar. 13, 2011)

** This is an English translation of a Korean text.