Korea Has 81 Items Ranked No. 1 in Global Exports... Maintains Top-10 Position for Fifth Straight Year

[Financial News] More than 80 Korean export items now hold the No. 1 share in the global market, allowing the country to remain among the world’s top 10 exporters for the fifth consecutive year.
According to a report titled “The Competitiveness of Korea’s Exports Seen Through No. 1 Items in the Global Export Market,” released on the 17th by the Institute for International Trade and Commerce under the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), China topped the list in 2024 with 2,087 items holding the largest share in the global export market. Germany followed with 520 items, then the United States of America with 505, Italy with 199, and India with 172.
For Korea, the number of items ranked No. 1 in global market share came to 81, of which 20 newly reached the top spot in 2024. Most notably, memory semiconductors, Korea’s largest export item, reclaimed the global No. 1 position from China for the first time in five years, driven by strong performance of high value-added products such as High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). In addition, transformers benefited from growing demand for power infrastructure centered in North America, while sheet masks, buoyed by the K-beauty boom, also newly entered the rankings at No. 1 worldwide.
Existing No. 1 products also held up well. A total of 37 items remained No. 1 in the world for five straight years from 2020 to 2024. In particular, solid-state drives (SSD) overtook Taiwan to claim the top spot for the first time in 2020 and have retained the No. 1 position for five consecutive years, while Korea also defended its lead in traditional industries such as lead-acid starter batteries for vehicles and rubber for auto parts.
By contrast, 17 items that were ranked first in 2023 saw their positions slip in 2024. In the case of liquid cargo vessels—such as oil tankers and Liquefied Natural Gas Carriers (LNG carriers)—Korea ceded the top spot to China, which pursued a volume-driven strategy focused on lower value-added oil tankers. However, with Korea currently enjoying a boom in LNG carrier orders, the report projects that the country is likely to regain the No. 1 position in 2025.
The competitiveness gap with Japan has narrowed. Between 2020 and 2024, the number of Japan’s No. 1 items plunged by 41, from 159 to 118, whereas Korea has steadily maintained 81 items.
Meanwhile, among items with export values of at least USD 100 million and ranked between second and tenth in global market share, 19 showed a step-by-step rise in their rankings across 2020, 2022 and 2024. According to the report, this relatively high ratio of items climbing the rankings, compared with other major exporting countries, suggests strong potential for Korea to further expand the number of its No. 1 export items.
Hong Ji-sang, Director-General of the Korea International Trade Association, noted that “even as the number of No. 1 export items has fallen sharply in major manufacturing countries such as Germany (down 168) and Japan (down 41) during the period under review, Korea has held steady at 81, performing relatively well.” He stressed, “To broaden the base of our No. 1 items, we must continue to enhance product competitiveness and pursue differentiation.”
eastcold@fnnews.com Kim Dong-chan Reporter