China-South Korea cooperation heats up, benefiting China’s textile and apparel trade

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan paid a state visit to South Korea for two days from July 3 to 4. This was his first special trip to a country after becoming president. ​
On the 4th, South Korea’s Nueces News Agency reported that Xi Jinping’s visit to South Korea was unprecedented in scale. Not only did the delegation of more than 80 people include 3 vice-premier-level and 4 minister-level officials, but also more than 200 president-level officials from large Chinese companies. figure. The two sides will sign a consular agreement and more than ten cooperation documents.
Several “biggest” players in the economic and trade field also demonstrate the close relationship between China and South Korea: China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, largest export market, largest import source country, and largest overseas investment target country. In 2013, the bilateral trade volume between China and South Korea exceeded 270 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to the total trade volume between South Korea, the United States, and South Korea and Japan.
When President Xi Jinping held talks with South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, he pointed out that in order to achieve the goal of bilateral trade volume of US$300 billion in 2015. It is hoped that the two sides will intensify negotiations and strive to complete negotiations on the China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement before the end of this year and strive to reach a high-level, win-win agreement with generally balanced interests.
With the successful visit of President Xi Jinping, the signing of multiple cooperation agreements between China and South Korea in the fields of environmental protection, energy, medicine, media and other fields, as well as the signing of the China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement in the future, the status of China and South Korea as a community of interests will be further strengthened. So for our textile companies, how can we take advantage of the rising trade cooperation between China and South Korea, seize the opportunity, and unleash the potential of our textile industry?
Let’s take a look at the textile and clothing trade between China and South Korea. my country’s textile and apparel exports to South Korea increased from US$3.806 billion in 2003 to US$6.789 billion in 2013.
In 2013, China’s exports of textiles and clothing to South Korea increased by 16.6% year-on-year. Especially for clothing, the export value reached US$3.95 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.1%.
In the first five months of 2014, China’s exports of Korean textiles and clothing reached US$2.967 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.33%.
It is believed that stimulated by the strengthening of trade cooperation between China and South Korea, the volume of textiles and clothing exported from China to South Korea will further increase.
In comparison, the import volume is relatively stable, remaining between 2.0 and 2.7 billion US dollars. In 2013, the import volume was 2.447 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 2.93%. In the first five months of 2014, China’s textile and apparel imports from South Korea amounted to US$743 million, a year-on-year decrease of 0.71%.
As traditional major textile and apparel producing countries, the cooperation between China and South Korea’s textile and apparel industries will become more diversified and in-depth in the future. In the future when China and South Korea strengthen trade cooperation, Chinese textile and garment enterprises must fully understand the country’s policy direction, pay attention to the dynamics of China-South Korea cooperation, take advantage of the China-South Korea Free Trade Zone to be built, and the direct exchange of currencies between China and South Korea mentioned during the visit. and other preferential and convenient conditions, deepen understanding of each other’s trade and investment cooperation, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.