North Korea's Trade Dependence on China Reached 91.8%, Tungsten is Main Export

North Korea's trade dependence on China has increased to 91.8% and tungsten is one of the country's main exports. A report released by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) on December 1 showed that N. Korea's dependence on Chinese trade keeps on rising, with China representing 90% of all North Korean trade in 2018, which increased to 5.3 times in 2001. Among them, tungsten and other products replaced anthracite as N. Korea's main export products.

The report states that N. Korea's trade with South Korea, China, and Japan has operated under a competitive structure rather than a complementary one. Although South Korea once became N. Korea's second largest trading partner, due to the Kaesong Industrial Complex’s closure and intensifying international sanctions, the trade volume from 2017 to 2018 was virtually zero.

North Korean trade dependence on China has increased image

In 2001, Japan accounted for the highest proportion of N. Korean foreign trade, at 30.1%, followed by China (17.3%) and South Korea (8.8%). In 2010, as the unilateral sanctions imposed by Japan on N. Korea and the launch of Kaesong Industrial Park, trade between South Korea and N. Korea increased. Our country ranked first with 45.3%, followed by South Korea (25%) and India (7.5%).

After even the Kaesong Complex was closed in 2016, the international community strengthened sanctions against the DPRK. Last year, China accounted for 91.8% of North Korea's foreign trade, followed by India (1.4%) and Russia (1.3%).

According to statistics from international organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, etc. N. Korea's trade target countries were 130 countries in 2001, and once continued to increase at a level of more than 150. However, as the international community strengthened sanctions against N. Korea, it decreased to 141 last year Countries.

Between 2001 and 2018, the top 10 countries by average percentage for North Korea's foreign trade were China (50.3%), South Korea (17.8%), India (4.7%), Japan (3.4%), Thailand (2.7%), Brazil (2.4%), Russia (1.9%), Germany (1.2%), Singapore (1%), Saudi Arabia (1%).

During the same period, N. Korea's top-ranked export items were chiefly anthracite (18.8%), iron ore (4.2%), men’s cold-weather coats (2.1%), women’s cold-weather coats (1.7%), heavy oil (1.7%). Its top-ranked imports were chiefly petroleum products, including crude oil (7.2%), heavy oil (3.7%), kerosene (3.6%) and other petroleum products for daily production.

After its inclusion as a target in intensified sanctions last year, anthracite disappeared from the ranking list. While items such as watches, ferrosilicon, wigs, injection machinery, and tungsten rose on the export ranking. The top import item was soybean oil, followed by nitrogen fertilizer, synthetics, and wheat flour.

North Korea trade with China versus others image

A KITA official predicted that with the changes in the external environment, N. Korea's trade partners and items have been observed to change with the external political situation. As sanctions on North Korea are loosened or lifted in the future, trade with countries such as South Korea, Japan, and India that accounted for a lot of transactions in the past is very likely to increase.

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a country in East Asia constituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. To the north and northwest, the country is bordered by China and by Russia along the Amnok. According to the data, a total of more than 360 varieties of natural minerals have been found in the country. Among them, mineral reserves with economic development value account for about 80% of the land area, and more than 200 economically useful minerals. The top ten minerals include tungsten, molybdenum, graphite, barite, and fluorite. As per the KITA, North Korea holds 250,000 tons of tungsten ore.

 

 

WeChat