South Korean machine tools have signs of recovery

According to the latest statistics from the Korea Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (KO鄄MA), from January to July this year, the cumulative output value of Korean machine tools was 937.712 billion won. In July alone, the output value of machine tools was 117.227 billion won, down 4.69% month-on-month; new orders were 120.443 billion won, down 11.94% month-on-month and 55.2% year-on-year. KOMA pointed out that from the second half of 2008, South Korean machine tool orders fell sharply, reaching the lowest point in January 2009. After that, due to the gradual stabilization of the international market, and the continuous recovery of the demand for large-scale machinery in the Korean shipbuilding, wind power generation and other industries, as well as the influence of factors such as the growth in demand from the electrical and electronic industry, the Korean machine tool orders slowly recovered. In terms of imports, from January to July, South Korea imported a total of US$603 million in machine tools. In the single month of July, the import value was 106 million US dollars, down 0.88% from the previous month. In terms of exports, from January to July, South Korea exported a total of 682 million US dollars of machine tools. Among them, the monthly export in July was 88.443 million US dollars, an increase of 5.36% from the previous month. According to KOMA analysis, South Korea's machine tool exports to the United States, Europe and emerging markets have decreased significantly, while exports to China have risen slightly, and China is still the largest export market for South Korean machine tools.