S Korea's exports to PIIGS plunge amid fiscal crisis

South Korea's exports to so-called PIIGS nations plunged this year amid lingering fiscal crisis in Europe, the customs office said Wednesday.

The PIIGS is a term used by some investors to refer to debt-ridden European countries, including Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.

South Korea's exports to Portugal reached 490.5 million U.S. dollars for the first four months of this year, nearly half of 882. 9 million dollars tallied for the same period last year, according to data from the Korea Customs Service (KCS).

Shipments to Greece contracted 15.8 percent on-year to 304.2 million dollars over the cited period, while those to Italy started decreasing in April after three months of growth.

Fitch lowered credit rating on Greece by three notches last week to a non-investment grade of B+ from its existing BB+, and Standard & Poor's cut rating outlook on Italy from stable to negative.

Exports to Spain grew 7.3 percent on-year to 670.7 million dollars during the first four months of the year, but those are much smaller than a 28.6 percent expansion of those to European Union (EU) nations during the same period, according to the KCS.

Exports to PIIGS nations will unlikely improve in the foreseeable future, but its impact to the country's exports is believed to be meager as shipments to the four European nations account for only 1.7 percent of South Korea's total exports.

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