Korea's exports of virus test kits on decline since April

SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports of coronavirus test kits have declined since their peak in April, leading to a plunge in stock prices of test kit makers, data showed Monday.

With the coronavirus pandemic raging across the globe, many countries had scrambled to import Korean COVID-19 test kits, in a boon to local manufacturers.

According to the data by the Korea Customs Service, the value of test kit exports came to US$214 million in April, a more than eightfold jump from $24 million in March.

However, exports of test kits fell 15.3 percent on month to $181 million in May and declined 19.5 percent on month to $146 million in June.

In the first six months of this year, Korea exported $91.9 million worth of test kits to Brazil and $59.8 million worth of test kits to India.

Yoon Hyuk-jin, an analyst at SK Securities, said Korea's exports of test kits declined as many affected nations started making their own test kits in May.

Test kit maker Seegene Inc. said its second-quarter sales came to 256.6 billion won ($215.6 million), beating market expectations.

But Seegene saw its stock price plunge about 30 percent compared with its peak earlier this year.

Other industry players -- LabGenomics Co. and Sugentech Inc -- have seen their stock prices plummet by some 30 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

kdh@yna.co.kr
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