Purpose - This paper empirically investigates the role of volatility in the China’s Renminbi (RMB) exchange rate plays on the Sino-Korea trade based on the analysis of auto industry. Due to the increasing proportion of China’s share in the world trade, RMB exchange rate is getting attention worldwide. Due to the close Sino-Korea trade relationships and the special position that auto industry plays in a country’s economy, this paper examines the causal relationship between RMB exchange rate volatility and Sino-Korea trade in this sector. Design/Methodology - Econometric methods including Johansen test of Co-integration, Granger causality analysis and multiple regression analysis are employed to explore the impact of RMB exchange rate changes on Sino-Korea bilateral trade flow using time series data of from 2001 to 2017. Findings – The outcome shows the real exchange rate changes of RMB have a limited effect on the improvement of Sino-Korea trade. The result indicates that there is a steady long-term relationship between bilateral real exchange rate of RMB and Sino-Korea trade. However, since the elasticity of exchange rate is too small, the change of exchange rate has a limited influence on Sino-Korea trade. In a short-run there is no lag on Sino-Korea trade processed by the real exchange rate. Originality/value - Neither theoretical studies nor argument analysis have reached a common conclusion on this point in the extant research. Even for the same country, the difference of industry, data and model they selected could result in the different results. Thus, this study is re-assessing the RMB’s exchange rate changes and Sino-Korea trade relationship by using the most recent and industry-level trade data. To examine the relationship this paper focuses on auto industry, the representative of the manufacturing industry in both countries.

Purpose - Along with Chinese exchange rate's reform advancement, the issue of exchange rate of RMB has increasingly become the heated focus in the world. In July 2005, China carried out the reform of the exchange rate system, and this behavior has aroused the attention of the world. However, the dispute on whether the theory of purchasing power parity holds or not in China still exists. As such, this paper will attempt to explore whether the purchasing power parity is significant in China. Research design, data, and methodology – The monthly data from July 2005 to December 2017 will be employed to analyze the nominal exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar and the nominal exchange rate of RMB against the euro. Based on these datum, an empirical analysis will be conducted under the unit root test and the cointegration test to exploit the significance of purchasing power parity in China. Results - The findings of this paper reveal that an increase in China’s consumer price index will lead to an increase in the RMB exchange rate, which will lead to the depreciation of RMB. Concomitantly, an increase in the consumer price index in the US and Europe will result in a decrease in the RMB exchange rate, which will lead to an appreciation of RMB. In general, in terms of the US, if US consumer price index increases by 1%, China's nominal exchange rate against US dollar will decrease by 0.905%; if China's consumer price index increases by 1%, China's nominal exchange rate against US dollar will increase by 0.648%. In terms of Europe, if Europe consumer price index increases by 1%, China's nominal exchange rate against euro will decrease by 0.277%; If China's consumer price index increases by 1%, China's nominal exchange rate against euro will increase by 0.235%. Conclusions – Generally speaking, the empirical evidences this paper provided show that the purchasing power parity theory has a certain explanatory ability for the decision of RMB exchange rate. As such, the purchasing power parity cannot hold completely, and China's government should continue to deepen the reform of the exchange rate system to improve China's exchange rate market.