South Korea’s trade deficit with China in textiles and clothing reached $1.43 billion in the first five months of this year due mainly to the inflow of cheap goods, a report showed Sunday.

In the January-May period, South Korea imported $2.47 billion worth of goods and shipped some $1.04 billion in clothing and textiles, the report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade said.

The size of the deficit is equal to 39.8 percent of the $3.59 billion deficit posted for the whole of last year, when the country imported $6.32 billion worth of Chinese products. Since 2002, South Korea has logged a trade deficit with its neighbor.

KIET said that chronic trade imbalance stems from cheap Chinese goods making steady inroads into the local market and from moves by South Korean clothing manufacturers that set up operations in China in the past, transferring their production centers to Southeast Asia. (Yonhap)