Crypto News: Supply Lines: Korea’s export rebound

Factories in trade bellwether South Korea enjoyed an increase in domestic and international orders, boosting purchasing and employment and stoking optimism for the year ahead.

"Manufacturers believe that 2024 will be a year for improvement," said Usamah Bhatti, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The purchasing managers index released Thursday for South Korea, Asia's third-largest goods exporter, rose to 51.2. That's the first time since mid-2022 that it's been solidly above 50 — the dividing line between contraction and expansion.

Other figures published Thursday showed South Korea's exports for January maintained growth momentum. The biggest driver has been memory chips. Semiconductor exports increased 56% from a year earlier in January, the customs office said, in the biggest rise since December of 2017.

"The better news is that the export recovery is spreading out to other major export items," Min Joo Kang of ING Economics wrote in a research note. "It could be temporary, but in January, machinery, home appliances, and display products all moved up."

China reclaimed its position as the biggest buyer of South Korean products in January after temporarily losing it to the US a month earlier.

Similar factory improvements were seen in major trading nations across the region, according to their PMI readings out today:

Indonesia posted a region's best 52.9, followed by the Philippines at 50.9.
Vietnam's PMI crossed above the 50-mark to 50.3 after five months in the red, buoyed by stronger demand in both onshore and overseas markets.
China's factory activity shrank again, with the official manufacturing purchasing managers index reading 49.2.
Japan's PMI reading stood a 48 and Taiwan's hit 48.8 — both improvements from a month ago but still in contraction zone.

Related Reading:

—Brendan Murray in London

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