South Korea’s exports in the first half rose 2.6 percent on-year to $283.6 billion. Its imports moved up 2.7 percent to $263.3 billion, with the country’s trade surplus hitting $20.3 billion, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in its monthly trade figure report.
The surplus is the largest tallied for the first half, with the daily export average of $2.13 billion exceeding previous highs.
It said economic revivals in the U.S. and EU fueled demand, with exports of information technology products, cars, ships and steel products doing well.
Exports to the EU and the U.S. jumped 11.7 percent and 8.2 percent on-year, respectively, in the January-June period.
In imports, the country brought in more raw materials and intermediate goods from abroad, in part to meet export demands. The ministry in charge of trade promotion said that export gains tallied for this year were better than those of rivals, and with the worldwide economic recovery likely to accelerate in the second half, the country’s outbound shipments, particularly in cars and ships, should do well in the coming months.
In June, Korea’s exports grew 2.5 percent on-year in June, indicating that the country’s overseas shipments may be improving, the government said Tuesday.
The country’s exports came to $47.84 billion last month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. This followed a revised 1 percent decline tallied a month earlier.
Imports also gained 4.5 percent on-year to $42.55 billion.
Korea posted a trade surplus of $5.29 billion in June, marking the 29th straight month of surplus, the ministry said.
On a daily basis, the country shipped a record $2.28 billion worth of goods last month, a gain of 4.9 percent from last year.
The ministry attributed the rise in exports to strong demand from the United States that led to a 15.8 percent increase in shipments.
The gains, however, were tempered by a drop in sales to Japan, the European Union, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last month. The numbers for China and the EU were down 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent. Shipments to ASEAN and Japan were each down 8.1 percent and 9.3 percent from a year earlier.
The ministry said sales of semiconductors, mobile communication devices, LCDs, high-end TVs and steel products all rose, but petroleum products and automobiles declined. (Yonhap)
