South Korea's Export Price Growth Slows
2025-05-15 21:14
By
Mojdeh Kazemi
1 min. read
South Korea's export prices rose 0.7% from a year earlier in April 2025, marking the 16th consecutive month of growth but slowing sharply from March's 6.3% increase.
Growth in manufactured goods prices eased significantly (0.6% vs 6.4%), while agricultural, forestry, and marine product prices surged 9.2%, accelerating from 7.7% the month prior.
On a monthly basis, export prices fell 1.2%, which was largely attributed to the appreciation of the Korean won, after a 0.4% gain in March.
The slowdown comes as South Korea faces mounting external pressure, including newly announced US tariffs of up to 49% by President Trump, with a 10% blanket duty already in place.
Although full implementation is delayed by 90 days, concerns are rising over the impact on the export-reliant economy.
Meanwhile, political uncertainty is intensifying ahead of a June 3 snap presidential election following the ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol after his brief declaration of martial law.