According to Yonhap:
North Korean textile exports to China are expected to surge four-fold to US$800 million this year compared to 2010, indicating a declining dependence on raw materials exports to earn foreign cash, a report said Tuesday.
The report by Korea International Trade Association (KITA)’s Beijing office showed shipments of textiles reached $410 million in the January-July period, up from just $190 million in 2010.
The international traders’ organization said textiles also accounted for 26.3 percent of all North Korean exports to China, up more than 10 percentage points from 16 percent reached four years earlier.
“Export growth reached 40 percent coming into this year, so it should not be too difficult to surpass the $800 million mark,” KITA said.
It said growth is being fueled primarily by the lower wages of North Korean workers compared to their Chinese counterparts.
On average, a North Korean worker earns $244 per month compared to $440 for a Chinese worker employed in Jilin province north of the border.
KITA said that, starting last year, some Chinese companies began shipping materials to North Korea to be made into finished products there.
In contrast, exports of raw materials, which made up 71.4 percent of all commodities shipped by North Korea to China in 2011, dropped to 60.7 percent of total exports in the January-July period. Trade data showed sharp drops in exports of coal, iron ore and pig iron.
The trade agency then said that with Chinese labor costs expected to rise steadily and the country suffering from a shortage of workers in certain sectors, North Korea may be able to capitalize on its advantage to build up its labor intensive sector.
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N.Korean textile exports to China surge in 2014
Yonhap
2014-9-23
