A private sector survey, published on Friday, showed that the activities of factories in South Korea were reduced at the fastest pace in 31 months during April, while a decrease in demand from comprehensive customs duties, which was posed by Donald Trump, while companies have become more pessimistic since the pandemic cofid -19.
The survey results were completely contradictory by the optimistic data on trade published by South Korea on Thursday, which exceeded market expectations due to strong demand for semiconductors, although they also showed signs that customs duties began to negatively affect the main sector in the country, according to Reuters.
The purchase manager’s index decreased in the fourth largest Asian economy released by Standard & Poor Global to 47.5 points in April, from 49.1 points in March, which is the third monthly reading below fifty levels, which shares expansion and reduction, and the lowest level since September 2022.
The units showed a decrease in production and new requests in the largest amount since June 2023.
As for the influence of the customs policy of President Trump on some large economies based on trade, new export requests have first decreased since October 2024 and recorded its largest decrease in 22 months.
“According to manufacturers, difficult local economic conditions and the influence of American customs duties below the sector, which prevented the launch of new products and sales in local and foreign markets.”
Last week, South Korea announced that she had reached an agreement with the United States on the development of a commercial package aimed at eliminating new American customs duties before lifting the suspension of mutual fees, including 25 percent fees for South Korea, in July, after the first round of commercial negotiations.
The expectations of South Korean manufacturers for the next year first turned into pessimism in December, with an exacerbation of internal political uncertainty from the unsuccessful attempt of former President Yuna Yola to impose martial law. The degree of pessimism was the most difficult since June 2020, and, with the exception of the Pandemia Cofid -19, it was the worst in the history of the survey, which began in April 2012.
The glare indicators of procurement of production supplies and business accumulations decreased over the maximum number of 31 months and 26 months in a row, while the operations for demobilization of labor were the largest since September 2020.
