South Korea's trade minister said Friday that the country needs to shape up and boost the efficiency of industrial complexes to help the country overcome a recent slump in outbound shipments.
  

"In order to help boost exports, we should strengthen the competitiveness of the country's industrial complexes, which account for the production of 80 percent of our shipments of manufactured goods," said Yoon Sang-jik, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy at a forum.
  

In July, exports shrank 3.4 percent on-year to $46.56 billion, according to customs data. In the first seven months of the year, the country's outgoing shipments backtracked 4.9 percent to $315.2 billion won from a year earlier. 
  

The trade minister said the current worn-out facilities in the complexes should be replaced with smart factories that could heighten production efficiency.
  

"Although business conditions are to our disadvantage at the moment, due to the weak Japanese yen as well as the devaluation of the Chinese yuan, we can overcome those downsides by improving productivity via smart factories," Yoon said.
  

The government plans to nurture 10,000 such plants by 2020, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)