Inorganic chemicals: South Korea exports and imports

HS chapter 28 · 무기화학품, 귀금속ㆍ희토류(稀土類)금속ㆍ방사성원소ㆍ동위원소의 유기화합물이나 무기화합물 · latest month: October 2026

Exports, October 2026

$1.01B

+0.9% vs previous month

vs same month a year earlier

+54.4%

export value

Exports, last 12 months

$10.88B

+24.5% vs 12 months before

Imports, October 2026

$1.45B

Export value per kg

$2.20

net weight, October 2026

In October 2026, South Korea exported $1.01 billion of inorganic chemicals (HS 28), up 0.9% from September 2026 and up 54.4% from October 2025.

Over the 12 months to October 2026, exports of inorganic chemicals (HS 28) totalled $10.88 billion, up 24.5% from the 12 months before ($8.73 billion).

The largest destination over the 12 months to October 2026 was China ($4.15 billion, 38.1% of the total), followed by the United States and Hungary.

That was 1.0% of South Korea's total goods exports over the same 12 months.

Imports in October 2026 were $1.45 billion (up 62.0% from October 2025), leaving a deficit of $442.9 million for the month.

Official description of HS 28: Inorganic chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals, of radioactive elements or of isotopes.

Last 24 months

Monthly exportsExport value in US dollars (FOB).

Monthly importsImport value in US dollars (CIF).

Headings under chapter 28

Code	Product	Exports, 12 months	Share	vs 12 months before	October 2026
2841	Salts of oxometallic or peroxometallic acids	$5.85B	53.8%	+15.2%	$556.3M
2825	Other inorganic bases, metal oxides and hydroxides	$743.7M	6.8%	+140.9%	$58.2M
2815	Caustic soda and caustic potash	$416.6M	3.8%	-0.9%	$29.8M
2843	Precious metal compounds, colloids and amalgams	$405.0M	3.7%	+90.8%	$34.9M
2803	Carbon black and other carbon	$387.7M	3.6%	+7.3%	$45.3M
2836	Carbonates and percarbonates (including lithium carbonate)	$385.2M	3.5%	+50.0%	$37.0M
2807	Sulphuric acid and oleum	$283.2M	2.6%	+171.8%	$28.6M
2833	Sulphates, alums and persulphates	$259.5M	2.4%	+14.1%	$30.6M
2812	Halides and halide oxides of non-metals	$247.6M	2.3%	+10.5%	$18.8M
2837	Cyanides, cyanide oxides and complex cyanides	$217.5M	2.0%	+4.7%	$16.6M
2826	Fluorides, etc.	$182.2M	1.7%	+104.5%	$16.8M
2811	Other inorganic acids and other inorganic oxygen compounds of non-metals	$166.2M	1.5%	-4.5%	$13.5M
2849	Carbides, whether or not chemically defined	$159.0M	1.5%	+248.6%	$18.4M
2808	Nitric acid, etc.	$122.0M	1.1%	+8.9%	$11.3M
2804	Hydrogen, rare gases and other non-metals	$120.2M	1.1%	-11.5%	$12.7M
2818	Artificial corundum, whether or not chemically defined, etc.	$104.3M	1.0%	+11.8%	$9.7M
2847	Hydrogen peroxide, whether or not solidified with urea	$98.1M	0.9%	+15.0%	$8.6M
2846	Compounds, inorganic or organic, of rare-earth metals, etc.	$87.6M	0.8%	+192.2%	$9.7M
2842	Other salts of inorganic acids or peroxoacides, other than azides, etc.	$67.9M	0.6%	+4.9%	$5.6M
2814	Ammonia, anhydrous or in aqueous solution	$67.0M	0.6%	+126.5%	$4.6M
2827	Chlorides, chloride oxides and chloride hydroxides, etc.	$65.7M	0.6%	+42.0%	$4.9M
2817	Zinc oxide, etc.	$65.7M	0.6%	-7.6%	$3.7M
2823	Titanium oxides	$59.0M	0.5%	+1.4%	$3.9M
2853	Phosphides, whether or not chemically defined, excluding ferrophosphorus, etc.	$58.4M	0.5%	+8.3%	$5.0M
2845	Stable isotopes and their compounds	$57.6M	0.5%	-27.2%	$6.3M
2850	Hydrides, nitrides, azides, silicides and borides, etc.	$43.8M	0.4%	+6.5%	$3.3M
2809	Diphosphorus pentaoxide, etc.	$28.2M	0.3%	+21.1%	$3.6M
2821	Iron oxides and hydroxides, etc.	$25.3M	0.2%	+21.2%	$2.2M
2844	Radioactive chemical elements and radioactive isotopes and their compounds, etc.	$16.4M	0.2%	+74.7%	$1.1M
2805	Alkali or alkaline-earth metals, etc.	$11.0M	0.1%	+36.0%	$2.2M
2835	Phosphinates, phosphonates and phosphates, etc.	$10.2M	0.1%	+6.8%	$488K
2830	Sulphides, etc.	$9.8M	0.1%	+60.0%	$1.6M
2801	Fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine	$8.5M	0.1%	+26.9%	$488K
2806	Hydrogen chloride (hydrochloric acid), etc.	$7.4M	0.1%	+0.5%	$738K
2831	Dithionites and sulphoxylates	$4.7M	0.0%	-12.0%	$317K
2813	Sulphides of non-metals, etc.	$4.3M	0.0%	+58.4%	$349K
2822	Cobalt oxides and hydroxides, etc.	$4.1M	0.0%	+789.2%	$461
2839	Silicates, etc.	$3.8M	0.0%	-39.3%	$361K
2834	Nitrites, etc.	$3.5M	0.0%	+62.0%	$199K
2820	Manganese oxides	$3.3M	0.0%	+304.9%	$324K
2824	Lead oxides, etc.	$3.2M	0.0%	-28.8%	$365K
2810	Oxides of boron, etc.	$3.0M	0.0%	+126.5%	$94K
2819	Chromium oxides and hydroxides	$2.0M	0.0%	+19.8%	$102K
2816	Hydroxide and peroxide of magnesium, etc.	$830K	0.0%	-34.7%	$111K
2840	Borates, etc.	$429K	0.0%	+18.5%	$38K
2829	Chlorates and perchlorates, etc.	$314K	0.0%	+110.2%	$5,067
2832	Sulphites, etc.	$267K	0.0%	-16.2%	$13K
2828	Hypochlorites, etc.	$248K	0.0%	+137.9%	$18K
2852	Inorganic or organic compounds of mercury, whether or not chemically defined, etc.	$173K	0.0%	+89.4%	$8,329
2802	Sulphur, sublimed or precipitated, etc.	$134K	0.0%	-12.5%	$7,201

Top destinations

Export value over the 12 months to October 2026. 149 countries received this product from South Korea in the last 24 months; the table shows the largest 20.

Rank	Country	Exports, 12 months	Share	vs 12 months before	Rank before	October 2026
1	China	$4.15B	38.1%	+55.8%	1	$334.3M
2	United States	$1.46B	13.4%	+8.9%	2	$168.1M
3	Hungary	$992.1M	9.1%	-17.2%	3	$67.4M
4	Japan	$802.2M	7.4%	+50.1%	5	$74.3M
5	Indonesia	$520.4M	4.8%	+88.4%	6	$98.7M
6	Malaysia	$470.2M	4.3%	+83.7%	7	$40.9M
7	Vietnam	$465.5M	4.3%	+95.9%	8	$47.4M
8	Taiwan	$293.0M	2.7%	+25.5%	9	$22.7M
9	India	$227.4M	2.1%	+29.4%	11	$15.0M
10	Poland	$202.9M	1.9%	-68.0%	4	$29.8M
11	Thailand	$168.2M	1.5%	+51.5%	12	$23.0M
12	Australia	$143.3M	1.3%	-19.7%	10	$9.4M
13	Germany	$103.1M	0.9%	+185.3%	17	$12.8M
14	Philippines	$98.5M	0.9%	+12.2%	13	$7.4M
15	Singapore	$81.3M	0.7%	+1.5%	14	$6.8M
16	Slovenia	$45.8M	0.4%	+2,418%	62	$144K
17	Chile	$44.9M	0.4%	+120.7%	28	$2.9M
18	Netherlands	$44.2M	0.4%	+51.9%	20	$3.3M
19	Italy	$44.1M	0.4%	-4.7%	16	$2.1M
20	Israel	$41.4M	0.4%	+106.8%	30	$6.9M

Countries are linked when exports of this product to them reached $1,000,000 over 24 months.

Monthly figures

Month	Exports	vs year earlier	Export weight	Export $/kg	Imports	Import weight
October 2026	$1.01B	+54.4%	458,219 t	$2.20	$1.45B	309,045 t
September 2026	$1.00B	+32.0%	446,317 t	$2.24	$1.23B	422,262 t
August 2026	$1.01B	+47.9%	387,152 t	$2.60	$1.17B	362,232 t
July 2026	$1.08B	+38.3%	504,551 t	$2.15	$1.23B	406,532 t
June 2026	$998.5M	+28.8%	388,902 t	$2.57	$1.15B	317,414 t
May 2026	$969.4M	+26.4%	417,691 t	$2.32	$914.9M	301,238 t
April 2026	$994.7M	+29.6%	543,438 t	$1.83	$1.14B	368,638 t
March 2026	$883.4M	+20.1%	490,650 t	$1.80	$1.35B	403,825 t
February 2026	$744.6M	+4.2%	456,702 t	$1.63	$715.4M	288,592 t
January 2026	$716.9M	+8.0%	503,709 t	$1.42	$914.3M	408,437 t
December 2025	$786.4M	+0.2%	534,538 t	$1.47	$913.5M	474,652 t
November 2025	$683.6M	+5.1%	528,497 t	$1.29	$900.3M	428,200 t
October 2025	$653.3M	-8.3%	540,887 t	$1.21	$896.0M	335,269 t
September 2025	$757.8M	+8.6%	475,126 t	$1.59	$860.4M	395,402 t
August 2025	$679.9M	-6.8%	477,451 t	$1.42	$764.0M	347,770 t
July 2025	$783.8M	+6.6%	473,649 t	$1.65	$916.3M	399,873 t
June 2025	$775.1M	-7.3%	457,121 t	$1.70	$873.3M	321,394 t
May 2025	$766.6M	-5.8%	425,099 t	$1.80	$782.5M	404,916 t
April 2025	$767.5M	-14.9%	518,700 t	$1.48	$931.3M	371,541 t
March 2025	$735.7M	-11.7%	377,589 t	$1.95	$733.9M	300,975 t
February 2025	$714.5M	-24.1%	395,414 t	$1.81	$935.1M	351,113 t
January 2025	$663.9M	-27.4%	468,342 t	$1.42	$807.1M	456,092 t
December 2024	$785.0M	-7.0%	503,446 t	$1.56	$843.0M	404,297 t
November 2024	$650.4M	-32.7%	461,522 t	$1.41	$783.1M	379,232 t

Exports FOB, imports CIF, US dollars. Weight is net weight. "vs year earlier" compares export value with the same month one year before and is left blank when that month was under $10,000. Source: Korea Customs Service, via data.go.kr.