O p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r S o u t h C a r o l i n a
www.USKoreaConnect.org • The Embassy of the Republic of Korea With the implementation of the U.S.-Korea Free
Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) there are exciting new opportunities for South Carolina businesses and communities. By removing tariffs on goods and restrictions on services, this strengthened international partnership is spurring business growth, creating jobs, opening new markets and providing access to a larger pool of consumers.
The Palmetto State is home to a wide range of businesses, from chemicals to manufacturing. These organizations are capitalizing on expanded opportunities created by the reduction of tariffs, elimination of trade barriers, and the free flow of products, services and ideas between South Carolina and Korea. Below are a few of the products that benefit from the KORUS FTA.
Trade Growth Jobs
• South Carolina exported $582.3 million in goods to Korea in 2013.
• South Carolina imported $427.9 million in goods from Korea in 2013.
• The KORUS FTA more closely connects South Carolina
businesses with Korea, a $1 trillion market with more than 50 million consumers.
• The KORUS FTA is a significant and important catalyst for job creation in South Carolina.
South Carolina’s Top Trade Items with Korea (2013) South Carolina’s Top Beneficiary Trade Items
Exports
Vehicles
• Passenger motor vehicles 8% tariff eliminated by 2016 Machinery
• Gas or smoke analysis apparatus 8% tariff eliminated immediately Chemical products
• Heterocyclic compound
8% tariff eliminated immediately or over 3 years
• Perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations
6.5% tariff eliminated immediately or over 3 years
Pet care products
• Dog or cat food (retail) 5% tariff eliminated immediately
Imports
Machinery/Electrical
• Fuel, lubricating/cooling pumps for internal combustion engines 2.5% tariff eliminated immediately
• Electromagnets
1.3% tariff eliminated immediately
• Electric motors
6.7% tariff eliminated immediately
• Tools for pressing or punching 5.7% tariff eliminated immediately Chemicals
• Petroleum resins
6.1% tariff being eliminated over 3 years
Imports
Boilers, tanks and shipping containers
$84.2 million Fabricated metals
$41.2 million Motor vehicle parts
$41.2 million
HVAC and commercial refrigeration
equipment
$33 million
Resins, rubbers and synthetic fibers
$27.8 million Metalworking machinery
$22.9 million
ExportsMotor vehicles
$132.9 million
Engines and turbines 83.7 million
Pulp, paper and paperboard
$36.5 million Chemicals
$34.4 million Nonferrous metals (except aluminum)
$34.1 million Motor vehicle parts
$31.1 million Navigational instruments
$30.5 million
www.USKoreaConnect.org
Businesses around South Carolina are taking advantage of opportunities from the KORUS FTA and the strong relationship between the United States and Korea.
Watch Us Grow Together
Port of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Industry: LogisticsProfile: The Port of Charleston is among the top 10 U.S. seaport districts in terms of dollar value of goods handled. In 2012, a total of $63.64 billion worth of goods passed through the port. Top commodities across Charleston docks include paper, wood pulp, auto parts, logs and lumber, and fabrics. Charleston is currently the deepest harbor in the South Atlantic and expected to be even deeper following a 45’ deepening project scheduled for completion in 2019.
Trade: In 2013, Korea was the 19th largest country of origin for general cargo shipped to the Port of Charleston, with 6,500 twenty-foot equivalent units shipped. Top exports from the port to Korea included yarns and textiles, chemicals and machinery parts. Top imports for the same year were forest products, chemicals and textiles. The Port of Charleston is also the home base of many shipping lines. Korean shipping lines providing service to Charleston include Evergreen, Hanjin and HMM.
Growth: With implementation of the KORUS FTA in March 2012, trade barriers between the United States and Korea were reduced. Since then the port has increased overall traffic by 6 percent. International trade through South Carolina ports facilitates 260,800 jobs across the state in the maritime, transportation, distribution and manufacturing industries while providing an overall economic impact of $45 billion each year. With plans to invest nearly $1.3 billion over the next decade in its ports, South Carolina will be well positioned to expand its leadership role in the shipping of goods under the KORUS FTA.
Industry: Sporting Goods/Textiles
Profile: Grip Rite Sports Supplies produces hand accessories for bowling, tennis and billiards such as rosin bags and moisture- absorbing desiccants. The company was bought by Dan Freeman in 1991 and moved to Lexington, just outside Columbia, South Carolina in 2005. Grip Rite currently has four employees.
Exports: Grip Rite first entered the Korean market in 1994 after Dan Freeman attended a trade show in Las Vegas and made his first deal with a Korean company. As recently as 2009, Grip Rite partnered with Atom Bowling, a Korean distributor for the company’s desiccants, hand accessories and rosin bags. “Our business in Korea is small, but it’s important to us,” says Freeman.
Growth: Freeman says Grip Rite is currently on the lookout for an additional distributor in Korea. His business in Korea is usually two-way. Grip Rite imports a little, but it exports considerably more. “The growth we’ve seen there is promising, particularly since bowling is very popular in Korea,” he says. Freeman believes that Korea’s long-held enthusiasm for bowling makes it a market with exciting potential. Similar to the United States, bowling is a popular pastime in Korea with local leagues and easy-to-find, state-of-the-art bowling alleys throughout the country.
Grip Rite Sports Supplies
Lexington, South Carolina
Milliken & Company
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Industry: Chemicals, ManufacturingProfile: Milliken & Company is a South Carolina business that manufactures specialty chemicals, floor coverings and performance materials. Since its founding in 1885, Milliken has developed one of the largest collections of patents held by a private company that operates around the world.
Exports: Chemicals and floor covering materials are among Milliken’s chief exports to Korea. Milliken’s industrial chemicals include additives and stand- alone products that make everything from dish soap to plastic containers more colorful, clearer, lighter-weight and longer-lasting. Since the implementation of the KORUS FTA, the company has significantly expanded its market presence in Korea.
Growth: The KORUS FTA has given the company the foothold it needs to expand further into the Korean market. “Thanks in large part to the KORUS FTA, we see Milliken’s business expanding rapidly in Korea,” says Kathi Dutihl, Manager, Government Affairs.
www.USKoreaConnect.org
Interesting Facts About Trade with Korea
Support From Around South Carolina
Connections Beyond Trade
• In 2013, South Carolina’s total exports to Korea reached more than
$528 million, demonstrating a significant and steady increase since implementation of the KORUS FTA in March of 2012.
• Home to Columbia Metropolitan Airport, which serves more than 1.2 million passengers annually, South Carolina exported more than $1.1 million in civilian aircraft engines and parts to Korea in 2013, more than in 2010 and 2011 combined.
• In 2012 and 2013, Koreans imported a combined total of more than
$250 million worth of passenger vehicles from South Carolina, an increase of more than $100 million from 2010 and 2011 combined.
• Know for its pet-friendly vacation destinations, South Carolina’s pet food exports to Korea were more than $3 million in 2013, up from just $19,000 three years earlier.
Orange County Profits from Korea Trade Pact
February 13, 2013
“With about a quarter of U.S. exports to Korea originating from the Los Angeles-Metro region, Orange County could benefit significantly from the $11 billion in U.S. export growth expected to result from the KORUS FTA over the next few years.”
• In 2012, it was estimated that there were more than 3,940 Koreans and Korean Americans living in South Carolina.
• There were 193 students from Korea studying at colleges and universities in South Carolina in 2012/2013.
• In 2013, the University of South Carolina entered into an agreement with Korea’s Woosuk University to lay the groundwork for increased academic collaboration.
• Korea and South Carolina share a reputation for world-class barbecue.
Both Korea and South Carolina are known for thier barbecue.
Trade Deals to Help South Carolina
October 19, 2011
Free trade agreements with Korea, Panama and Colombia could create thousands of jobs in South Carolina’s auto, rubber, paper and electronics industries.
We must make free trade work for SC
February 22, 2013
Corporate relocation to, and job creation in, South Carolina often begin with trade missions, trade shows and cultural exchanges [with Korea].
Remarks from South Carolina Representative Jeff Duncan September 23, 2011
“Free trade equals jobs. Free
trade agreements open up
markets for U.S. products.”
www.USKoreaConnect.org • The Embassy of the Republic of Korea
All figures in U.S. dollars. Information based on data from the U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.S. Census Bureau, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea International Trade Association, Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Institute of International Education, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce and the South Carolina Dept. of Commerce.
Last updated: March 2014
