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The EU and South Korea mark the one year anniversary of the implementation of the EU-South Korea Free Trade Agreement on 1 July 2012. The agreement is the first of a new generation of free trade agreements that went further than ever before at lifting trade barriers and making it easier for European and Korean companies to do business together. As the FTA has lowered import tariffs for European products at the Korean border, it's estimated that EU firms have already made cash savings of €350 million in duties after just 9 months.
Accordingly, in the first 9 months of implementation EU exports to South Korea increased by €6.7 billion or 35% compared to the same period since 2007. EU exports to other countries also grew during this timeframe (by 25%) but the level of increase of exports to Korea (35%) indicates that the early tariff eliminations are already having some effect.
Exports of some specific products have grown faster than the average, for example, exports of pork are up by almost 120%, which translates into new trade of almost € 200 million.
Friday June 29, 2012/ European Commission/ European Union.
http://europa.eu/rapid
