S.Korea Registers Trade Surplus of US$12.1 BlnSouth Korea registered a trade surplus of 12.1 billion dollars in 2000, the third consecutive year since 1998, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Energy said Monday.Last year, the nation exported 172.6 billion dollars worth of goods, up 20.1 percent from 1999 while it imported 160.4 billion dollars, up 34 percent. Semiconductors led the export with 26.2 billion dollars, followed by computers with 14.8 billion dollars and textiles 18.6 billion dollars. The 12.1 billion dollars represents a substantial increase in consideration of the rise of 15.1 billion dollars of oil product import in the aftermath of the sharp oil price increase last year, said the ministry. The import of oil reached 24.4 billion dollars, surpassing the import amount of semiconductors which stood at 19.6 billion dollars. In addition, the ministry set the target of this year's trade surplus at 10 billion dollars with 191 billion dollars in export and 181 billion dollars in import. |
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