SEOUL, January 14th (Yonhap) - Trade volume between South Korea and Chile has increased 4.5 times, from 1.6 billion in 2003 to 7.1 billion dollars in 2013, thanks to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), as the Customs Service of South Korea announced on Tuesday.
The South Korean exports to Chile grew 4.8 times, from 500 to 2.500 million dollars and imports from the Latin American country increased 4.4 times, from 1.100 to 4.700 million dollars.
The trade volume between the two countries in the last ten years was much higher than the world average, which grew 2.9 times during the same period.
The principal exports from Seoul to Santiago were machinery (including automobiles), chemical and mineral products, and the main import items from Chile included minerals, steel and agricultural products.
It is expected that the trade between South Korea and Chile will rise even more from this month, due to the increase of products without tariffs under the bilateral FTA that came into force in 2004.
