Joining means 'survival': Nearly half of Korea's exports lose ground in Pacific trade pact markets, report warns
47.7 percent of Korea’s manufactured export products became less competitive in Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership markets as Seoul’s membership bid remains stalled.
Cars waiting to be shipped overseas sit at Kia’s export pier at Pyeongtaek Port in Gyeonggi on April 3. Automobiles were among the Korean exports that lost the most ground in Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership markets after the trade pact took effect, a state think tank found.NEWS1
Nearly half of Korea’s manufactured exports lost competitiveness in markets within the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after the trade pact took effect, a state-run think tank found, as Seoul’s bid to join stalls.
Key manufacturing industries such as shipbuilding and automobiles fell furthest behind member countries.
Of 5,185 Korean export products, 2,474, or 47.7 percent, lost ground within the bloc after the pact took effect, according to a report the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade released Wednesday. The report compared 2021 to 2024 with 2012 to 2018.
The institute measured competitiveness with the revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) index, which shows how competitive a country’s industry or product is internationally. The index runs from minus 1 to 1, and a higher number means a product is relatively more competitive.
Grouped into 15 industries, the products that lost ground fell most in nonmetallic mineral products, down 0.296, followed by shipbuilding at 0.262, displays at 0.23 and automobiles at 0.199.
The 11 CPTPP members, excluding Britain, which joined in 2024, saw their index rise in all 15 industries for the same products.
Shipbuilding showed the widest gap. Korea’s index for shipbuilding products fell 0.262, while the index for CPTPP members as a group rose 0.125 for the same products.
Export and import cargo is stacked at Sinseondae Pier in Busan Port on Oct. 1. Nearly half of Korea’s manufactured exports lost competitiveness in CPTPP markets after the pact took effect, according to a state think tank.YONHAP
In automobiles, Mexico stood out. The members’ index rose 0.047 for the car products where Korea lost ground, but Mexico’s alone jumped 0.312.
Mexico is the only one of the 11 members with which Korea has no FTA or other preferential trade deal, which the report suggests left Korean cars at a tariff disadvantage.
Of the 2,474 products that lost ground in the bloc, 796, or 32.2 percent, held steady or gained competitiveness in markets outside it. Korean goods may have faced a tougher contest in CPTPP markets than in other overseas markets, the figures suggest.
“Korea should no longer approach joining the CPTPP as a matter of ‘additional gains’ but as a matter of ‘survival’ in the regional market,” the report said.
Vehicles await shipment at Hyundai Motor’s export dock at its Ulsan plant on May 12.YONHAP
If Korea stays outside the bloc, its position in the regional market could weaken further, the report warned.
“The regional RSCA also reflects factors other than the CPTPP, so it is difficult to conclude there is a causal relationship,” the researchers wrote. “But in the products where Korea’s competitiveness fell, CPTPP members commonly gained competitiveness in the region, which points to a widening gap with the members.”
The CPTPP, which took effect in 2018, is a 12-member trade bloc of middle powers that includes Japan, Britain, Mexico, Australia and Canada.
The government began public consultations on joining after a meeting of economy-related ministers in August. But as farmers’ fears of damage to agriculture grew, President Lee Jae Myung last Thursday ordered the government not to apply for membership this year.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
