The Korea International Trade Association said it opened an office in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, on Dec. 19 last year. It is designed to provide support to Korean firms planning to enter the central Chinese region by playing a middleman role between the local authorities and Korean business firms.
Chairman Kim In-ho and other executives of KITA attended the opening ceremony, along with local Chinese government officials and business leaders.
KITA considered either Chengdu or Xian to set up its office, but settled on Chengdu. The Maeil Economic Daily will hold the World Knowledge Forum in Chengdu to help local regions in China learn about Korea and its business firms. The theme will be “One Asia.”
The economic daily proposed holding the forum last May under the theme “the new normal in China.”
KITA officials feel that Chengdu will be the second center in China to spread the Hallyu fad. They think it will be instrumental in advancing Korea’s trade with China based on the recently-completed FTA between the two countries by holding trade consultations and utilizing the terms of the trade deal to spur the trade between Korea and China.
South Korea's two-way trade is expected to once again surpass the $1 trillion mark in 2016, after a poor showing last year.
The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) predicted exports will rise 2.3 percent on-year in 2016 to $544 billion, with imports advancing 4.8 percent to $461 billion. The combined total should hover just over $1 trillion, with the country's trade surplus reaching $83 billion.
Asia's fourth-largest economy became the ninth country in the world to export and import more than $1 trillion worth of goods in 2011. From 2011 to 2014, the country's total trade topped $1 trillion annually, but dipped under that figure last year.
"The global economy is expected to move up into the mid-3 percent range in 2016, compared with 3.1 percent in 2015," KITA said.
The trade organization said a rise in crude oil and refined petroleum trade should help overall numbers.
“Worldwide trade was to backtrack by more than 10 percent," the association said regarding Korea’s poorer trade figures last year. "Such developments naturally affected South Korea's trade figures."
It also said demand for general machinery, mobile communication devices and autos should rise in 2016, although the shipbuilding, displays and steel sectors will struggle with weak sales.
For 2015, KITA said that outbound shipments may have contracted by 7.1 percent year-on-year to $532 billion, with imports nose-diving 16.3 percent to $440 billion. Two-way trade should hit $972 billion. The official figures have not been released yet.
In the January-October period, the country exported $440.2 billion worth of goods, while importing 367.4 billion.
"The slowdown in global economic growth, changes in the industrial structure and a sharp fall in international crude oil prices caused worldwide trade to backtrack by more than 10 percent," the association said.
In particular, KITA said the 50 percent on-year drop in crude prices played a big part in this year's disappointing numbers.
South Korea is one of the largest importers of oil, but it is one of the top producers of refined petroleum products and petrochemicals in the world.
On a positive note, KITA said that while South Korea's trade backtracked, it did better than rivals like Japan, Germany and France.
"The global market share for South Korean products reached 3.3 percent in the first half, up from 3 percent in 2014, while the country ranked sixth worldwide in terms of exports, up from seventh in 2014," it said.
The association said that while exports dropped in dollar terms, volume actually rose 5.6 percent in the first six months of last year, outpacing on-year gains posted by the United States, European Union, Japan and China in the same period.
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