This photo, taken on Jan. 1, 2021, shows stacks of import-export cargo containers at a port in Incheon, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Germany saw its imports decline last year due to the economic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the country’s imports from South Korea turned out to have increased.
The Frankfurt office of the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency analyzed data from 2020 released by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.
The analysis showed that among Germany’s top ten trading partners, the number of countries for which Germany increased imports last year stood at three, including South Korea (No. 8), China (No. 2) and Switzerland (No. 4).
By item, Germany’s imports of immunity serums and COVID 19-related immunity items marked remarkable growth of 614 percent, 1,109 percent and 153 percent over the past three years.
During the same period, the nation’s electric vehicle (EV) imports registered a growth of 69 percent, 59 percent and 80 percent, with annual imports of lithium batteries rising by 2 percent, 13 percent and 5 percent.
In the meantime, Germany’s imports from South Korea of medical laboratory test kits, including diagnostic equipment, marked explosive growth of 1,043 percent in the January to November period of last year after falling by 13 percent in 2019.
Germany’s imports of face masks from South Korea also jumped by 2,048 percent during the same period after falling by 47 percent in 2019.
The country’s imports of computer-related items from South Korea also grew last year due to the spread of the work-from-home trend.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
