Korea's export prices for April fall to lowest since January 2008

Описание: And moving on to some economic news...
About a week has passed since the Korean won started trading at the 1-thousand-20 level against the U.S. dollar.
Now, the hardest hit by this strengthening domestic currency... are Korean exporters.
Our correspondent Laah Hyun-kyung has this report. Korea's export price index for April fell to its lowest since January 2008.
The Bank of Korea says the index stood at 88-point-3... down 2-and-a-half percent from the previous month.
That means Korean companies are making LESS profit when they're exporting the same amount of products... due to the strengthening local currency.
3-hundred-40 companies, recently surveyed by the Korea International Trade Association say... they can make reasonable profits when the won trades against the greenback at 1-thousand-73 won on average
The breakeven rate for them was at 1-thousand-45 won... and the fact Korea's currency has been trading at the 1-thousand-20 won level for the past week,... is not helping their profit margins.
Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick convened a meeting on Wednesday... and promised the government's support in monitoring and managing the exchange rate.
At the same time, he called on small and mid-sized companies to be on the look out for exchange risks themselves.
The minister also suggested taking this as an opportune time to reduce costs and tap into new markets... but some observers say that, even if that was possible, it would take a long time to achieve those goals.
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency says... trade conditions will be better in the latter half of the year,... but not because of a weak Korean won -- but because Korea's exports to China will likely improve.
Laah Hyun-kyung, Arirang News.