Anchor: Nine out of every ten small- and mid-sized exporters in South Korea say they have been hit hard by the falling exchange rate. Analysts say the dropping price competitiveness of Korean-made goods against Japanese products is to blame.
Jang Souie reports.
Report: According to a survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 300 smaller exporters and their losses due to the falling exchange rate, 93 percent of respondents said they experienced financial losses.
This is up 40 percentage points compared to November, when only 53 percent of the respondents said they were affected.
All responding companies in the home appliances and auto parts sectors said they saw losses, while over 90 percent of rubber and plastic goods manufacturers, shipbuilders and plant constructors said they were affected negatively.
Meanwhile, around 85 percent of firms in the petrochemical industry, which benefited from a dip in production costs thanks to the strengthening won, said they still were still hit by financial losses.
The chamber said that the main reason was the falling price competitiveness of products made by Korean companies against Japanese goods as the won strengthened while the yen weakened.
The majority of respondents, at 68 percent, said that they were affected due to foreign exchange losses incurred after signing deals with foreign buyers.
Thirty percent of the respondents said that they have no countermeasure in check against the falling exchange rate. Meanwhile, 47 percent said that it is impossible to reflect the falling rate in their export prices.
