South Korea: Terms of trade

For that indicator, we provide data for South Korea from 1980 to 2020. The average value for South Korea during that period was 95.96 percent with a minimum of 50.19 percent in 2012 and a maximum of 138.46 percent in 1995. The latest value from 2020 is 56.05 percent. For comparison, the world average in 2020 based on 188 countries is 117.11 percent. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.

The terms of trade for South Korea are calculated as the value of its exports as percent of the value of its imports. An increase in the terms of trade means that the value of exports is increasing relative to the value of imports. The country can afford to buy more imports with the revenue from its exports. For example, an increase in the price of oil increases (improves) the terms of trade for the oil-exporting countries and lowers it for the other countries.

Definition: Net barter terms of trade index is calculated as the percentage ratio of the export unit value indexes to the import unit value indexes, measured relative to the base year 2000. Unit value indexes are based on data reported by countries that demonstrate consistency under UNCTAD quality controls, supplemented by UNCTAD's estimates using the previous year’s trade values at the Standard International Trade Classification three-digit level as weights. To improve data coverage, especially for the latest periods, UNCTAD constructs a set of average prices indexes at the three-digit product classification of the Standard International Trade Classification revision 3 using UNCTAD’s Commodity Price Statistics, interna­tional and national sources, and UNCTAD secretariat estimates and calculates unit value indexes at the country level using the current year's trade values as weights.