New data: NK-China trade after the Covid border closure
By Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
Numbers for China-North Korea trade are out from Chinese customs for the first two months after railroad traffic resumed in January. Overall, the data looks like what one would expect. Trade has skyrocketed by a factor of almost 41, from $3.27 million in January and February last year, to $136.5 million in the same period this year. The real figure is probably somewhat larger. The majority, $116.3 million, is constituted by North Korean imports from China, which goes a long way in explaining the exchange rate hike on North Korean markets that I wrote about yesterday here.
Despite the drastic increase, the numbers are about half of what they were pre-covid. That shouldn’t itself be surprising, since many trade connections have likely faltered during the long closure. Moreover, North Korean authorities seem determined to reconstitute the way they regulate trading rights and access.
Numbers source: Joongang Daily, here.
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