SEOUL, KOREA — According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Korea’s robot production in 2011 reportedly doubled 2010’s figure. Export in the same year also went up two times higher than its previous year 2010.
On July 18, the Ministry’s “Robot Industry Report in 2011“on all 363 robot makers revealed that their overall production rose 20.3% to KRW 2.15 Trillion compared to the previous year, despite slow growth. Defying difficulties at home and abroad, robot production in the manufacturing area grew KRW 1.65 Trillion. Domestic output increased 1.6% and export up 195.2%.
Robots for service use expanded 13.4%, riding on the back of the growth of personal service sectors: robots for home use at KRW 1701 Billion, Education and Research 530 Billion Won, and Healthcare 65 Billion Won. Following the trend, production in robot parts has also jumped 86.1% since the same quarter in 2010.
Export’s doubled-increase depended heavily on Manufacturing and cleaning robots at 5211 Billion Won, while its import up 21 % stood at KRW 3308 Billion.
Last year, trade deficit at KRW 439 Billion in 2010 turned around with a surplus gap KRW 1463 Billion. And the number of active companies in the industry has been added from 334 in 2010 to 346, which was coincided with the employee figure up 15.1% at 10,509 from 9129 in 2010.
