Korea is on track to pass Italy and the Netherlands to become the world’s sixth largest exporter for 2010, according to the Korea International Trade Association.
Korea’s exports totaled $381.9 billion for the first 10 month of the year, a 30.1% jump over the same period last year. That puts it on track to export $466 billion for the full year, a 28.2% increase over 2009. It will even surpass the prior record set in 2008 before exports were staggered by the global economic crisis.
Korea is expected to enjoy a trade surplus of a record $42 billion for 2010.
The world’s top exporter is China, with $1.2 tril. for 2009, followed by Germany with $1.159 tril. and the U.S. with $1.046 tril. Japan is 4th with $542 bil. and France 5th with $473 bil. Netherlands and Italy were sixth and seventh, respectively, in 2009 with $418 bil. and $413 bil. in exports. S. Korea was 8th, followed by the UK with $357 bil.
