South Korean exporters expect reduced revenue due to multiple scourges this year amid volatile foreign exchange and commodity prices and unrelenting trade war between the United States and China and yet few among the smaller scale have solutions to weather the challenges, according to survey.

Half of the large exporters have contingency plans, but the ratio was just 27.8 percent for mid-sized and 16.8 percent for small-sized counterparts in a survey by the Institute for International Trade under the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on 986 companies with annual exports of more than $500,000.

The biggest threat cited by them was the volatile foreign exchange rate and commodity prices (41.4 percent), followed by intensified competition (19.6 percent), trade tensions between the U.S. and China (19.0 percent), and monetary tightening and impact on emerging economies (16.5 percent).

The majority - 68.1 percent - expected exports to keep up growth, albeit in marginal rate. Nearly 40 percent predicted a growth of between zero to 5 percent this year, slowing from 5.5 percent growth in 2018.

Exports of consumer items, chemical products and electronics are safe, but shipments of smartphone and mobile device parts, plastic and rubber goods, and steel and nonferrous metal products face setbacks, institute added.

In response to the growing trade challenges, the think tank suggested the Korean government offers expanded support for Korean companies seeking for new opportunities in Southeast Asia and Europe. According to the survey, 25.6 percent of the respondents chose Southeast Asian countries as new promising markets, followed by European Union members 16.6 percent and Latin America 12.3 percent.

By Kang Gye-man and Lee Ha-yeon

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