Section
FX
The won against the dollar and its major crosses, plus currency futures.
Korea's euro futures are held and not traded. Its yen futures are traded and not held.
A follow-up to our August count, on an axis it did not carry: open interest. Korea's euro book is two-thirds larger than its yen book and turns over about a fortieth as fast. Yuan open interest is 21 to 41 contracts.
The won just hit a 14-month high, two months after its worst point
On 7 September the won closed at 1,355.2 to the dollar — its strongest since 2 July 2025. That is 12.8% stronger than the 1,554.4 it hit on 2 July 2026, almost exactly a year later. The whole year's move unwound in nine weeks.
Korea's trade balance, in one page: who it sells to, who it pays
Korea's trade in one page: it sells to two giants — the US and China, each about a fifth of exports — and buys energy and machines from everyone else.
Korea's ten biggest trade deficits are oil, gas, and machinery
Rank Korea's biggest trade deficits and nine of the ten sell energy or machines. The tenth sells copper. Oil, gas, and machinery are the import bill.
The won, not the goods, drove much of Korea's imported inflation
Over the year to July 2026 Korea's import prices rose 18.4% in won but only 11.1% in contract currency. The 7-point gap is the exchange rate, not dearer goods. A March commodity spike lifted all gauges, then partly eased. Not advice.
China is Korea's biggest trade partner, but almost none of its surplus
China is Korea's biggest partner both ways — and the two nearly cancel. Its balance is about 5% of the national surplus on a fifth of all trade. The surplus is earned from the US, Vietnam and Taiwan; the deficits are oil, gas and machinery.
China is Korea's biggest trading partner. Its yuan futures are 0.03% of the market.
Across 629 trading days, 99.0% of Korean currency-futures turnover was one contract: the dollar. The exchange also lists 1,272 flexible-dated dollar futures that have never traded once.