Exporters The number of electric and electronics exporters in Korea has fallen rapidly from 3,363 at the end of 2004 to 2,535 at the end of June this year and further to 2,466 at the end of 2005, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said. It means that 42 percent of Korea's electric and electronics exporters have disappeared during the 18-month period. The number of exporters of electronics parts reduced by 38 percent from 661 in 2004 to 411 in the first half of this year. During the same period, exporters of electronics goods for industrial use dropped sharply from 316 to 163, and those for home use declined from 98 to 47. It indicates that Korea's foundation on exports of electric and electronics products has been weakened gradually. Exports by large-scaled companies still are brisk, but those by small and mediumsized companies are very poor with some of them abandoning export activities voluntarily. The key reason behind the sharp drop in the number of exporting companies is the won's speedy appreciation against the U.S. dollar. In addition, oil prices and prices of international raw materials rose sharply, pulling down the global price competitiveness of small and medium-sized companies with no specialized items. Shin Hyun-soo, a researcher of Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, said, "Owing to the persistent appreciation of the won against the dollar, the export portion of small and medium-sized companies dropped from 42 percent in 2002 to 32 percent on average in May this year. Worsening profitability in the wake of the won's appreciation has dampened exports of small and medium-sized companies sharply, while threatening the stability of the nation's overall exports." In the first half of this year, Korea's exports of digital electronics goods amounted to $53.7 billion, an increase of 10.7 percent from the same period of last year. Although the Ministry of Commerce and Industry forecast the nation's digital electronics exports to exceed the previous record high of $102.8 billion this year, but the quality of exports has reached a serious situation owing to the sharp drop in the number of exporters and worsened profitability, analysts said.