65 Korean products were ranked No. 1 in global export market share, resulting in Korea to climb to the 12th position.

In a report on ‘Korea’s Export Competitiveness based on Global Export Market No. 1 Items’ published on the 5th, Institute for International Trade of Korea International Trade Association announced the result of investigation for 2013. Korea achieved improvement in terms of the ranking and the number of global top items from 2011 and 2012.

As of 2013, China is ranked No. 1 with 1,538 items of the largest share in the global export market. In addition, Germany (733 items), the U.S. (550) and Italy (216) have secured higher positions. While China increased the number of top-ranking items by 63 from the previous year, Japan’s No. 1 items decreased by 44.

As for Korea, 44 items, such as memory semiconductors, automotive components and tankers, were found to be the top in global export market share in 2012 and again in 2013.

The number of new items that have climbed to the top position in 2013 is 21 and these items are mainly chemical and textile products, such as ethylene, polycarbonate and clothing accessories. On the other hand, the number of items that had been No. 1 in 2012, but became lowered in rankings in 2013 was 19 and these items include steel as well as agricultural and fisheries products.

By category, Korea has a number of chemical products (21 items), steel (11) and textile products (8) ranked No. 1 in global export market share. As for the trend over the last six years, the number of top-ranking chemical products increased, while those of transportation machinery, electronic machinery and agricultural and fisheries products decreased.

For the 65 items of which Korea has the largest share in 2013, the second places are filled by China (20 items), the U.S. (10) and Japan (7). In particular, for 14 items including memory semiconductors, China is found to be in hot pursuit of Korea with a difference in market share by less than 5%.

Meantime, for 124 items of which the other three countries are ranked No. 1 in global export market share, it has been found that Korea is also competing for these items with the current market share ranked in the second – third positions.

As for the number of Korean items ranked No. 1 in key export markets, 372 and 84 items are ranked No. 1 in China and the U.S. respectively in 2013 and, accordingly, Korea is placed on the fifth and the ninth positions in these markets, which are the same as in the previous year. In particular, the number of items with the largest market share in China has increased considerably (by 37 items) in 2013. In the U.S. market, the top-ranking items also increased by eight. In Germany, the number of items for which Korea has the largest share in 2013 was 20, which increased by one from the year before. Accordingly, Korea was ranked in the 15th position (excluding EU states).