A Study on the Trade Patterns of Korea, China and Japan in the ASEAN Market

Abstract

Purpose - The main purpose of the study was to analyze the trade patterns and comparative advantage of products in the ASEAN market as a result of the Korea-China-Japan FTA. Design/methodology/approach - In order to achieve the research objective, UNCTAD statistics were used and the current comparative advantage index and the current symmetric comparative advantage index were used to classify them into five factors that is the (basic, natural resource intensive, unskilled labor intensive, technical and human capital intensive sectors), according to factor intensity. The Markov Transition Probability Matrix was adopted in the analysis. Findings - Despite the increase in total exports to Korea, its competitiveness in the ASEAN market has gradually declined. China was the most competitive in all categories, and Japan remained competitive in all but the basic products. In China’s technology-intensive and human capital intensive areas, we found that Japan could not overtake China. Research implications or Originality - Compared to China and Japan, the competitiveness of products and product groups is weak in the ASEAN market, and it is expected that it will be hard to exceed the competitive performance China and Japan for a long time. Therefore, if we increase the competitiveness of products in the ASEAN market and more closely grasp the dependency structure of products among Korea, China and Japan, we can suggest a systematic export direction in the ASEAN market.