S. Korea's exports drop 12.8% in first 20 days of July

SEJONG -- South Korea's exports dropped 12.8 percent on-year in the first 20 days of July amid the economic fallout from the new coronavirus, customs data showed Tuesday.

The nation's outbound shipments stood at $24.6 billion in the July 1-20 period, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

The daily average exports during the 20-day period also declined 7.1 percent.

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted trade and halted production around the globe, with a rising number of countries fully closing their borders.

By segment, exports of memory chips, a key item, fell 1.7 percent and those of automobiles declined 14 percent over the 20-day period from a year earlier.

By country, shipments to China fell 0.8 percent on-year and shipments to the United States declined 2.4 percent. 

South Korea's imports in the 20-day period slipped 13.7 percent on year to $24.8 billion, according to the data.

Exports dropped for the fourth consecutive month in June due to the growing economic fallout from the pandemic. 

Outbound shipments dipped 10.9 percent to $39.2 billion last month, compared with $44 billion posted a year earlier. 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has predicted that South Korea's economy will shrink 1.2 percent this year as the global economy is expected to have its worst year since the Great Depression of the 1930s due to the pandemic.

The world economy is expected to contract 6 percent this year, the OECD said. (Yonhap)