A Study on the Korean company's plan for entering into MERCOSUR

국내기업의 남미공동시장(MERCOSUR) 진출방안에 관한 연구

MERCOSUR (Southern Cone Common Market, Latin American trade organization established in 1991, full members: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay; associate members: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) is the world's third largest economic union. It is a vital region that Korean corporations should enter to preoccupy the Latin American market. Since China and Japan are recently moving strongly to advance into MERCOSUR, Korea needs to work out measures to cope with the situation. In trading with MERCOSUR, it is very important to establish a strategic base in the market from a long-term perspective rather than to approach the market only as an exporting market. From this viewpoint, Korea should regard MERCOSUR as a market with which it should cooperate in terms of resources, beyond a market from which it imports raw materials. Helped by its advancement strategies varying according to regional markets and price competitiveness, China is bolstering its market share in these regions. In addition, China has built production bases focused on electric and electronics products. It is also increasing its investments in MERCOSUR as a stable raw material-providing base. To make inroads into MERCOSUR successfully, therefore, Korean enterprises should not regard it as a market where it disposes of stock goods, but should instead export technologically competitive goods to this region. Likewise, Korean companies should expand their investments in automotive parts and machinery in MERCOSUR. Furthermore, Korea should closely study international trading policies of MERCOSUR to clear away any possible obstacles of exports to this region and to prepare countermeasures so as to avoid possible damage from import regulations of MERCOSUR.