South Korea’s trade value is expected to fall short of $1 trillion this year in the fallout of pandemic after keeping up the threshold for three years.

According to estimates from the Bank of Korea, international commerce value would likely reach $950 billion this year, which would be off 9.1 percent from last year.

The central bank last week projected the country’s exports to decline 8.5 percent on year to $496 billion and imports 9.8 percent to $454 billion this year.

The country has kept trade value above $1 trillion since 2017.

The country managed to maintain its trade value above $1 trillion last year despite double-digit fall in exports.

The country’s exports for full 2019 came to $542.4 billion, falling 10.3 percent to perform its weakest in 11 years, while imports lost 6.0 percent on year to $503.2 billion.

Hopes for improvement in exports due to easing in the trade war between the United States and China were dashed due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) earlier this year that rapidly developed into the worst-ever global pandemic in modern history.

Exports tumbled 23.7 percent on year in May after a 24.3 percent plunge in April.

By Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]