Chinese importers are cancelling or suspending orders of fashion goods from South Korea due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in Beijing, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province and East China’s Jiangsu province. Fashion products from South Korea form a small percentage of bilateral trade between the two countries. However, the surge in cases is likely to cast a shadow over a wider range of imported goods from South Korea, a major trading partner of China.

All products from South Korea are currently being put in warehouses at ports for at least 10 days after clearance before being delivered for sterilization work and reducing risks. This is causing orders for South Korean goods to drop by atleast 50 per cent, as per a Global Times report. The top five items exported from South Korea to China are machinery, chemical products, plastics and rubber, base metals, and mineral products, according to the Korea Customs and Trade Development Institution.

Currently, China is South Korea's largest trading partner, largest export market and largest source of imports, while South Korea is China's fifth-largest trading partner. With the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership coming into force this year, China will gradually reduce tariffs on a wide range of products, including textiles and stainless steel produced in South Korea to zero.