Korea exports and imports by product
What does Korea export, and what does it buy? In 2025, machinery and transport equipment made up 59.0% of Korea's exports — but only 35.9% of its imports. Mineral fuels run the other way: 22.2% of imports against just 6.7% of exports.
Read this before the table: product, not partner
This classifies trade by what is traded (SITC major sections) — a separate axis from a country-level ranking. It does not say Korea trades more or less with any particular partner, and it does not explain why the export and import baskets differ so much by category.
Exports vs imports, by product category — 2025
| Category | Exports | Share | Imports | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food and live animals | $9.1bn | 1.3% | $34.9bn | 5.5% |
| Beverages and tobacco | $2.1bn | 0.3% | $1.7bn | 0.3% |
| Crude materials, inedible, except fuels | $8.0bn | 1.1% | $36.1bn | 5.7% |
| Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials | $47.2bn | 6.7% | $140.1bn | 22.2% |
| Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes | $0.4bn | 0.1% | $2.5bn | 0.4% |
| Chemicals and related products | $91.2bn | 12.9% | $61.2bn | 9.7% |
| Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material | $69.5bn | 9.8% | $55.2bn | 8.7% |
| Machinery and transport equipment | $418.4bn | 59.0% | $226.6bn | 35.9% |
| Miscellaneous manufactured articles | $60.5bn | 8.5% | $65.7bn | 10.4% |
| Commodities not classified elsewhere | $2.8bn | 0.4% | $7.9bn | 1.2% |
"Commodities not classified elsewhere" is a small residual category (re-exports, special transactions, goods not elsewhere classified in SITC) — it is kept in the table for completeness but is not a product category in the usual sense.
One year back, for a sense of stability
In 2024, machinery ran 56.2% of exports and 33.8% of imports — close to the 2025 shares above. This composition does not swing sharply year to year; this page does not claim anything about the trend beyond these two years.
What this page does not say
- No cause for the gap between export and import baskets — only the measured composition.
- No partner-country breakdown — see trading partners for that axis.
- No forecast — 2025 and 2024 only, not a projection.
- Values are nominal USD, not adjusted for price changes between years.
This is not investment advice. It describes the measured composition of Korea's exports and imports by product category.
Source
Korea International Trade Association (KITA), 품목별 수출액 수입액 (exports/imports by product, SITC major sections), via KOSIS (DT_1R11001_FRM101). Annual, 2020–2025.
Related
South Korea's largest trading partners, Korea's export map and import map don't match. See what else is in the catalogue.