▲ Containers stacked at the Port of Busan
South Korea is on the verge of becoming the fourth country in the world to achieve USD 1 trillion in annual exports, following the United States, China, and Germany.
Driven strongly by the memory semiconductor supercycle, surpassing the USD 1 trillion mark as early as November is seen as highly likely.
South Korea's exports in September reached USD 120.9 billion, a sharp increase of 83.5% compared to the same month last year.
This is the first time monthly exports have exceeded USD 120 billion, setting a new all-time monthly record and surpassing the previous high set last June (USD 102 billion).
Building on this momentum, cumulative exports from January to September this year recorded USD 814.5 billion, crossing the USD 800 billion threshold for the first time in history.
This figure exceeds last year's annual record (USD 709.3 billion), which was the previous all-time high, by more than USD 100 billion.
South Korea's exports have grown rapidly over the years, surpassing USD 100 billion in 1995, USD 200 billion in 2004, USD 300 billion in 2006, USD 400 billion in 2008, USD 500 billion in 2011, USD 600 billion in 2018, and USD 700 billion last year.
After breaking record highs for each corresponding month from January onwards this year, exports surpassed USD 100 billion on a monthly basis for the first time last June, and are now firmly targeting the unprecedented milestone of USD 1 trillion annually.
The remaining amount needed to achieve the USD 1 trillion annual export milestone is USD 185.5 billion.
This is an achievable scale requiring an average of only about USD 618 billion per month during the fourth quarter (October to December).
The momentum of semiconductors, which are leading exports, remains fierce.
Amid sustained demand for memory semiconductors driven by the AI craze, a combination of expanded export volume and rising fixed prices led semiconductor exports in September to reach USD 60.3 billion.
This is a staggering 262.8% surge compared to the same month last year, marking the first time exports have exceeded USD 60 billion.
The price of DDR5 16Gb steadily rose, recording USD 37.5 in May, USD 40.0 in June, USD 45.0 in July, USD 46.5 in August, and USD 48.0 in September, driving overall performance.
NAND prices also showed a continuous upward trend, supporting the strong results.
In addition, key products continued to perform well, including computers (USD 7 billion, up 435.3%), petroleum products (USD 7.2 billion, up 72.0%), and ships (USD 3.8 billion, up 29.9%), which tend to be linked to semiconductor exports.
In addition to the "lower in the first half, higher in the second half" trend where exports typically increase toward the latter half of the year, the upward momentum centered on semiconductors was so strong that September exports exceeded USD 120 billion, making an early breakthrough of the USD 1 trillion mark as early as mid-November highly probable.
To date, only three countries—the United States, China, and Germany—have recorded USD 1 trillion in annual exports, and South Korea is projected to become the fourth country to achieve this major milestone.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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