S. Korea's trade surplus reaches $2.8 bln in Feb.

South Korea's trade surplus reached $2.84 billion in February mainly due to solid export gains in the face of unfavorable global developments, a government report showed Tuesday.

   The February trade surplus marked a slight dip from the $2.92 billion tallied for January, although on a daily basis exports reached a record 2.05 billion, the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said, This marks the first time that daily exports surpassed the $2 billion mark, exceeding the previous record of $1.94 billion reached in January.

   "The slight decrease is partly the result of the three-day-long Lunar New year holiday that fell in early February, which resulted in less working days," said An Byung-hwa, head of the ministry's export-import division. He added that despite uncertainties arising from turmoil in some North African countries, trade was not seriously affected in the one-month period.

   Last month also represented the 13th consecutive month that the country's trade balances remained in the black, he said.

   Monthly exports gained 17.9 percent from a year earlier to $38.96 billion last month, with imports rising 16.3 percent to $36.11 billion, according to the report.

   According to the report, outbound shipments were fueled by strong overseas demand for locally made cars, steel and refined petroleum products, with exports to most countries posting solid gains compared to the year before.

   Cars and petroleum product exports jumped 41.1 percent and 61.0 percent, respectively, with steel going up 36.4 percent on-year.

Overseas demand for general machinery moved up 38.2 percent, but sales of ships contracted 7.6 percent with semiconductor exports gaining just 8.7 percent.

   Exports to the U.S. jumped 41.5 percent on-year, with shipments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries and Japan expanding 30.0 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively. Exports to China, South Korea's largest trading partner, moved up 13.2 percent annually while numbers for the Middle East and European Union rose 19.8 percent and 5.3 percent each in the cited month.

   Outbound shipments to advanced industrialized economies surged 26.5 percent on-year, while those to developing economies moved up a modest 4.3 percent.

   Imports, which reduced the overall trade surplus, rose as international crude and commodities prices moved up during the month.

   The country's import of crude oil and natural gas jumped 34.1 percent and 5.2 percent in February from a year earlier, with those of coal surging 63.3 percent.

   South Korea, in addition, bought more consumer goods, although imports of intermediate goods contracted.

   Intermediate capital goods imports fell 8.6 percent on-year, with consumer imports soaring 18.7 percent.

   For March, the ministry in charge of the country's industrial and trade promotion said uncertainties in some North African and Middle East countries will start to exert more pressure on global trade. It said that should the price of crude oil, which has already exceeded $100 per barrel, remain high it could hurt balance of trade. The ministry, however, expected South Korea to post a trade surplus.

   Seoul is presently keeping close tabs on events taking place in North Africa with attention to energy prices and repercussions to South Korean companies in the region so that it can respond quickly and effectively to any sudden developments.