ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – South Korea’s exports rose 13.7 per cent year-on-year in the first 10 days of April, driven by strong demand for semiconductors and automobiles, data from the Korea Customs Service showed.
Outbound shipments reached USD18.58 billion during the period, up from USD13.84 billion a year earlier.
The daily average export volume edged up 0.3 per cent, with 8.5 working days recorded, compared to 7.5 days last year.
Imports rose 6.5 per cent to USD19.68 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of USD1.09 billion.
Semiconductor exports soared 32 per cent to USD3.39 billion, making up 18.3 per cent of total exports – an increase of 2.5 percentage points from the same period last year.
Shipments of automobiles soared 11.9 percent on-year to USD1.94 billion and those of auto parts went up 10.5 per cent to USD707 million. Exports of steel products gained 4.2 per cent to USD1.3 billion.
But sales of petroleum products shed 3.9 per cent to USD1.31 billion. By destination, exports to China, the top trading partner of South Korea, climbed 8.8 per cent to USD3.55 billion, while those to the European Union spiked 30.6 per cent to USD2.21 billion.
Shipments to the United States slipped 0.6 per cent on-year to USD3.47 billion, the data showed.
In March, exports gained 3.1 per cent from a year earlier to stand at USD58.3 billion, marking a second consecutive month of increase.
