교역조건 16개월째 악화..."반도체 수출가격 하락 영향"<br /><br />South Korea's terms of trade index dropped on-year in March for the 16th month in a row.<br />It's the longest continuous decline in almost a decade.<br />Our Ko Roon-hee explains why. <br />The fall in semiconductor prices is hitting Korea's terms of trade index.<br /> According to the Bank of Korea on Wednesday,... the country's net barter terms of trade index in March came to 92-point-two-seven,... a decline of more than 5-percent on-year. <br />Terms of trade measures the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports... relative to the base year of 2010.<br />The central bank pointed out that the index has been decreasing on-year for 16 consecutive months.<br />As for why, analysts point to the falling prices of memory chips, one of the country's main export items. <br />This follows lower demand for chips in the global market... due to poor smartphone sales and less investment in data centers.<br />Meanwhile, the export volume and value indices dropped by 3-percent and almost 9-percent respectively. <br />The BOK said export volumes dropped on year for two consecutive months.<br />The fall was mainly observed in electronics and electrical equipment... especially in the display sector.<br /> When it comes to imports, the volume was down more than six-percent and the value of imports was down seven percent.<br />Machinery imports dropped mainly due to lower imports of semiconductor manufacturing machinery.<br /> Analysts say, the fall in Korea's trade figures reflect the slower growth of the global economy.<br />Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News. <br />
