South Korea's exports to China will likely continue to shrink in the third quarter of this year, due partly to a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, a report said Monday.
  

"Due to a slump in China's manufacturing sector and worsening consumer sentiments caused by unstable stock market conditions there, the country's exports (to China) will likely continue to drop in the third quarter," said the report from the Korea International Trade Association.
  

Poor exports by China's manufacturing industry often translate into a cut in South Korea's own exports as industrial parts and materials, used to build China's end products, account for nearly 35 percent of South Korea's overall shipments to China.
  

In the first half of the year, South Korea's overall exports to China dropped 2.5 percent from the same period last year. China is, by far, the world's single largest importer of South Korean goods, accounting for 25.4 percent of South Korea's overall exports in 2014.
  

The report, however, said the country's exports to China will likely begin to rise in the fourth quarter amid improving conditions caused by China's new One Belt, One Road initiative.
  

The initiative, also known as the belt and road initiative, is China's latest economic development strategy unveiled in late 2013 that will include massive development projects.
  

"Exports to China will likely improve in the fourth quarter amid massive investments in China's infrastructure under the One Belt, One Road initiative, as well as a recovery in China's own exports," the report said. (Yonhap)