SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports to southern European countries have plunged this year as demand has slowed due to the region's debt crisis, the customs office said Wednesday.

   South Korea's exports to Portugal nearly halved to US$490.5 million during the first four months of this year, down from $882.9 million a year earlier, according to data offered by the Korea Customs Service (KCS).

   Exports to Greece fell 15.8 percent to $304.2 million, while those to Italy started to contract in April after three months of growth, affected by refreshed concerns over its fiscal debt.

   Exports to Spain grew 7.3 percent to $670.7 million, but the increase was far smaller than a 28.6 percent gain in shipments to European Union countries during the same period, the data showed.

   The figures underlined weakened demand from the so-called PIGS countries, which have been struggling to cope with soaring fiscal debt in the wake of the global financial crisis.

   South Korea mostly exports ships, information technology goods, steel and machinery to the region, experts said.

   But they noted that the impact of the debt crisis on South Korea's trade will not be significant enough to make a dent as shipments to the region accounted for only 1.7 percent of the nation's total exports and sales in other parts of the world remain strong.

   "As long as the fiscal crisis in those countries does not spill over into other European economies or the United States, we do not expect it could have a significant impact on our exports," a KCS official said.

   kokobj@yna.co.kr
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