Supply Chain Research

South Korea’s international trade activity improved by 3.0% year over year in February, in large part due to the lunar new year falling in January in 2019. Exports to China only fell by 6.6% compared to a 10.7% slide in January – though a 21.1% slide per working day shows the disruptions caused by COVID-19. The latter can be seen indirectly in a 16.6% slide in exports of automobiles which may reflect parts shortages at Hyundai. Elsewhere exports of semiconductors jumped 9.4% higher year over year – the first improvement since Nov. 2018 – while petrochemicals climbed 10.6%. The impact of...