Driven by a semiconductor boom, exports in the first ten days of this month surged by more than 50% compared to the same period last year, setting a new all-time record.
According to the Korea Customs Service today (July 13), exports (preliminary customs data) from July 1 to 10 reached 29.8 billion dollars, an increase of 53.9% from a year ago.
This marks the highest figure ever recorded for the first ten days of a month.
The previous record was 28.6 billion dollars, set from June 1 to 10, meaning the record was broken in just one month.
The number of working days was 8.5, the same as the same period last year.
Consequently, the average daily export value also rose by 53.9% to 3.51 billion dollars.
By product, semiconductor exports jumped 193.0% to 11.2 billion dollars.
This is the highest semiconductor export figure ever recorded for the first ten days of a month.
Semiconductors accounted for 37.6% of total exports, an increase of 17.8 percentage points (p) from a year ago.
Exports of petroleum products also saw a significant increase of 22.7%, while passenger vehicle exports rose by 5.7%.
The growth rate for computer peripheral exports reached 208.1%.
By country, exports to major markets all increased, including China (88.7%), the United States (43.2%), Vietnam (92.8%), the European Union (EU, 28.9%), and Taiwan (49.7%).
The combined share of the top three countries—China, the United States, and Vietnam—accounted for 51.7% of the total.
Imports reached 23.5 billion dollars, an increase of 17.4% from a year ago.
Imports of semiconductors (49.6%), crude oil (19.0%), gas (24.8%), machinery (7.8%), and semiconductor manufacturing equipment (49.5%) all increased.
Imports of energy (crude oil, gas, and coal) rose by 23.4%.
By country, imports from China (25.1%), the United States (4.7%), Japan (7.6%), and Taiwan (57.6%) increased, while imports from the EU (-4.4%) decreased.
With exports exceeding imports, the trade balance recorded a surplus of 6.4 billion dollars.
(Photo: Yonhap News)