An ongoing slump in South Korea’s outbound shipments is likely to continue throughout the year due to unfavorable factors such as a slowdown in China and a widely expected rate hike in the US, the head of a trade promotion agency said Tuesday, Yonhap reported. The country’s exports declined 3.3% in July from a year earlier, marking an on-year drop for the seventh consecutive month, according to government data. “A number of internal and external risks, such as China’s slowed growth, the rate hike issue in the US, as well as the plunge in oil prices are likely to have a negative impact on exports,” said Kim Jae-hong, head of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, during a meeting with reporters.
