South Korea Export Prices Rise, Trade Volumes Fall in Jan

Seoul, South Korea—The Bank of Korea released preliminary data on Friday showing that South Korea's export prices rose in January while trade volumes declined.

The Export Price Index increased 1.2 percent month-on-month in January 2025 on a Korean won basis, following a 2.3 percent gain in December. Year-on-year, export prices climbed 8.5 percent.

The Import Price Index advanced 2.3 percent from the previous month and increased 6.6 percent compared to January 2024.

Trade volumes showed significant declines, with the Export Volume Index falling 10.7 percent year-on-year in January and the Import Volume Index decreasing by 3.8 percent during the same period.

Manufacturing products, which account for 996.5 out of 1000 total weight in the export index, saw prices rise 1.2 percent month-on-month. Within manufacturing, coal and petroleum products recorded the highest monthly increase at 7.3 percent.

Among import categories, raw materials showed the steepest monthly gain, 4.4 percent, driven by a 5.0 percent increase in coal, crude petroleum, and natural gas prices.

The Net Barter Terms of Trade Index, which measures the ratio of export prices to import prices, improved by 3.1 percent year-on-year in January 2025.

According to the Bank of Korea's statement, the data remain preliminary and may be revised next month. 

The bank surveys prices at the beginning of each month based on export/import contracts, with export prices measured FOB and import prices measured CIF.

The current month's statistics were compiled from a survey covering 212 export and 237 import items, each accounting for more than 1/2,000 of Korea's total trade volume.