S.Korea's dependence on Chinese intermediate goods surges for 10 years: report

SEOUL, May 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's dependence on intermediate goods imported from China surged over the past 10 years at a faster pace than Group of Seven (G7) countries, a report showed Monday.

The country's dependence on Chinese intermediate goods imports advanced from 19.4 percent of the total in 2010 to 28.3 percent in 2020, according to the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) report cited by Yonhap news agency.

It was much higher than comparable figures in 2020 for the G7 countries that standing at 21.1 percent for Japan, 13.3 percent for the United States, 10.3 percent for Canada, 8.0 percent for Germany, 7.3 percent for Italy, 6.4 percent for Britain and 5.2 percent for France respectively.

South Korea's reliance on imported Chinese intermediate goods soared 8.9 percentage points in the cited 10-year period, while the comparable figure for the G7 countries rose 0.8 percentage points on average.

The country's dependence on Japanese intermediate goods plunged from 21.0 percent in 2010 to 12.8 percent in 2020.

Meanwhile, South Korea's reliance on China for industrial raw materials, such as rare earth, steel and lithium, stood at 33.4 percent in 2020, higher than those of the G7 nations, according to the report. ■