The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday it revised its MTI product codes for export-import analysis and released an assessment of 2026 first-quarter trade using the updated system. The MTI codes reclassify the globally used HS codes to better reflect South Korea’s industrial structure.
It was the first revision since 2020. The ministry expanded its list of major export items to 20 from 15, adding five categories including electrical equipment, nonferrous metals, agricultural and fisheries foods, cosmetics and household goods, to provide more consistent statistics and make trends easier to track.
It also refined subcategories for key sectors including semiconductors, autos and biohealth. Semiconductor data now separate memory and system chips, with memory broken down into DRAM and NAND. Autos are classified by vehicle type, such as passenger and cargo vehicles. A separate MTI code was created for biohealth, with subcategories for pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
Based on the revised statistics, first-quarter exports totaled $219.9 billion, up 37.8% from a year earlier, the highest on record for the period. Exports rose in 13 of the 20 major categories.
Semiconductor exports jumped 139% to $78.5 billion. With memory prices rising, DRAM exports climbed to $35.79 billion and NAND flash to $5.39 billion. System semiconductors increased 13.5% to $12.11 billion.
Auto exports slipped 0.3% to $17.2 billion. Cargo vehicle exports rose 63.9% to $710 million, but passenger car exports fell 2.2% to $16.3 billion and vans dropped 31.7% to $70 million. Biohealth exports rose 0.6% to $4.2 billion, and electrical equipment exports increased 2.5% to $4.05 billion.
South Korea’s global export ranking could also improve. Under World Trade Organization data, South Korea ranked fifth in exports in January and February, behind China, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. With Japan, the sixth-ranked exporter for the two-month period, trailing South Korea by about $12.9 billion, the ministry said South Korea’s chances of holding fifth place for the full first quarter improved once March results are included.
A ministry official said Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported March exports in yen that, when converted to dollars, were estimated at about $189.5 billion, roughly $30 billion less than South Korea. The official said it would be the first time South Korea ranks fifth in quarterly global exports if confirmed.
The ministry cited risks including the war in the Middle East. It said a negative scenario in which the conflict affects conditions through the second half of the year and influences oil prices into next year would make export trends difficult to predict. It also noted that a strike issue involving Samsung Electronics’ labor union remains unresolved.
Trade Minister Kim Jeong-gwan said export conditions ahead would not be easy, citing higher oil prices from the Middle East war, global supply-chain instability and uncertainty over U.S. tariffs. He said the government would expand trade finance and export insurance to ease companies’ funding burdens and continue measures to stabilize transport and supply chains to guard against logistics disruptions and support the first-quarter export momentum.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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