South Koreans purchased less overseas in 2015


South Koreans made fewer direct purchases from abroad in 2015, with the figure falling compared to a year ago for the first time since the country first began to record such purchases.
The decline was mostly attributed to a strong dollar and private sector efforts to woo back domestic consumers.
According to the Korea Customs Service on Wednesday, South Korea’s direct purchases of foreign goods reached $1.52 billion last year, down 1.4 percent from over $1.54 billion tallied in 2014.
The drop is noteworthy because direct purchases of goods by South Koreans have been growing by double digits. In 2011, they surged 72 percent on-year.
“A strong dollar makes buying goods abroad more expensive, especially since most overseas direct purchases are with U.S. retailers and producers,” the KCS said.
The average exchange rate for last year stood at 1,131.49 won to the greenback, the highest since 1,156.26 won to the dollar in 2010.
Direct purchases from the U.S. accounted for 73 percent of all goods bought by South Koreans, with Europe and Japan coming in at 13 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The agency said that while the U.S. market share was unchanged from the year before, the pace of growth has slowed significantly.
China’s market share, however, suffered a sharp drop to 3 percent from the previous 10 percent, mostly on account of a stronger Chinese currency.
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

caption: Packages containing ordered goods await delivery at a local parcel delivery company. (Yonhap)