The South Korean government expects the euro crisis and global economic turbulences to take their toll on the country's exports, dpa quoted the Economics Ministry as saying on Sunday. "2012 will be a year in which there will be significant volatility in global trade," the ministry predicted. South Korea had a trade surplus of 33.3 billion dollars in 2011, the ministry said. Exports had risen 19.6 per cent, to 557.8 billion dollars, while imports had increased 23.3 per cent, to 524.5 billion dollars. In December, Seoul's trade volume passed a trillion dollars for the first time. In 2012 however, the difference between exports and imports was expected to drop to 25 billion dollars. While a fall in demand was likely to reduce the exports that the country depends on, imports were expected to rise in value due to higher oil prices. The Economics Ministry predicted that exports would increase by 6.7 per cent while imports would rise by 8.7 per cent. Lower demand was expected to hit the country's ship builders, steel manufacturers, refineries and producers of mobile devices in particular. In December, Seoul reduced its 2012 growth projections to 3.7 per cent, down from 4.5 per cent.
