Overseas direct purchase, reverse direct purchase, gap widened...8x difference from China

This year, the so-called "reverse direct purchase" gap between direct overseas purchases and direct sales has widened from last year.

The Korea Customs Service said the difference between overseas direct and reverse direct purchases this year was $2.15 billion and 2.8 trillion won, nearly 13% larger than last year.

In particular, the amount of direct purchases from China was eight times higher than the amount of reverse direct purchases, and the difference in amount was $1.87 billion and 2.4 trillion won.

This is attributed to China's e-commerce platforms AliExpress and Temu, which have strengthened their targeting of the Korean market.

Until August this year, overseas direct purchases amounted to $3.34 billion and 4.4 trillion won, of which Chinese direct purchases accounted for 54%.

This year's reverse direct purchase amount was $1.77 billion and 2.3 trillion won, up 24% from last year.