▲ Containers piled up at Pyeongtaek Port in Gyeonggi Province
Exports in the early days of September surged by more than 80% from a year earlier, setting a record high for the same period.
With semiconductor exports increasing by over 270%, major items such as petroleum products, passenger cars, ships, and steel products also showed strong performance, driving up overall export figures.
According to the Korea Customs Service on Thursday, the value of exports from September 1 to 10 (provisional figures based on customs clearance) stood at $34.97 billion, up 82.6% from a year earlier.
This marks the largest ever figure for the first 10 days of a month, surpassing the previous record ($30 billion in July) in just two months.
The number of working days was 8.5, the same as last year, and the average daily export value considering the working days also increased by 82.6% to reach $4.11 billion.
Cumulative exports from the beginning of this year through the 10th were tallied at $728.56 billion.
Earlier on the 5th, cumulative exports reached $709.4 billion, surpassing last year's annual export total ($709.3 billion).
By category, semiconductor exports jumped 270.1% year-on-year to $16.48 billion.
This is an all-time high for the period of September 1 to 10.
Semiconductors accounted for 47.1% of total exports, expanding 23.9 percentage points (p) from the same period last year.
Exports of petroleum products (57.0%), passenger cars (10.0%), ships (66.8%), and steel products (10.3%) also increased.
Exports of precision instruments decreased by 4.8%.
By country, exports grew evenly across major markets, including China (103.0%), the United States (137.5%), Taiwan (176.0%), Vietnam (42.2%), and the European Union (EU, 38.9%).
The proportion of exports to the top three trading partners—China, the U.S., and Taiwan—stood at 51.9%.
Imports rose 20.7% from a year earlier to $24.61 billion.
By category, imports of semiconductors (91.5%), crude oil (3.5%), semiconductor manufacturing equipment (44.8%), and passenger cars (70.9%) increased.
Meanwhile, machinery (-2.7%), gas (-9.7%), and petroleum products (-38.4%) declined.
Energy imports (crude oil, gas, and coal) edged up 1.5%.
By country, imports from China (50.0%), the U.S. (17.3%), the European Union (6.5%), and Japan (39.8%) increased, while imports from Australia (-0.7%) decreased.
With exports outpacing imports, the trade balance recorded a surplus of $10.37 billion.
This is the largest scale on record for the first 10 days of a month.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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