Korea Trade Review (무역학회지)

Korea Trade Research Association (한국무역학회)
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A Study on Statistics Discrepancies in the Bilateral Trade Between Korea and Its Major Partners - Focusing on PRC and Hong Kong -

한국과 주요 교역국 간 무역통계 불일치에 관한 연구 - 중국과 홍콩을 중심으로 -

  • Received : 2022.03.25
  • Accepted : 2022.04.27
  • Published : 2022.04.30
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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the degree of discrepancies in the bilateral trade data between South Korea and its five major trade partners and to identify the key factors causing the discrepancies. By analyzing statistics based on the CIF/FOB ratio estimation and taking into consideration the trade flow via Hong Kong, the study finds that the discrepancies in South Korea's trade data with the US, Vietnam, and Japan are insignificant. In case of Hong Kong, however, the value of South Korea's import from Hong Kong is extensively inconsistent with Hong Kong's export to South Korea(i.e. the mirror data) while the value of South Korea's export to Hong Kong generally corresponds to its mirror data. Such discrepancies are caused by differences in recording re-exports, which are often found in the trade flow via entrepôt economics including Hong Kong. Meanwhile, discrepancies in reported bilateral trade flows between South Korea and People's Republic of China(PRC) remain relatively marginal. The discrepancy of statistics between South Korea as the exporter and PRC as the importer is mainly caused by the trade flow via Hong Kong. On the other hand, the discrepancy of statistics between South Korea as the importer and PRC as the exporter is assumably due to the differences in attribution of trade partners.

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