S. Korea`s agricultural, fisheries trade deficit narrows in 2009

SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's agricultural and fisheries trade deficit
narrowed slightly last year, thanks largely to a fall in international food
prices amid the global economic downturn, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.

The country posted a deficit of US$16.4 billion in agriculture and fisheries
trade last year, narrowing from a deficit of $18.72 billion a year earlier, the
Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry said.
Exports of agricultural and fisheries products rose 7 percent to $4.81 billion
last year, while imports dropped 8.4 percent during the same period to $21.24
billion, the ministry said.
But in terms of amount, agricultural and fisheries imports posted a year-on-year
increase of 4.2 percent last year.
The trade deficit in farm goods with U.S. was the highest at $4.12 billion,
followed by China at $3.11 billion and Australia at $1.61 billion.
Meanwhile, South Korea ran a trade surplus of $1.4 billion with Japan in
agricultural and fisheries trade, the ministry said.
jia@yna.co.kr
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