South Korea’s Dec. 1-20 exports fall 8.8 percent on weak chip demand

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s exports declined 8.8 percent on-year to $33.63 billion in the first 20 days of December, while imports added 1.9 percent to $40.06 billion.

According to the data released by the Korea Customs Service on Wednesday, the nation’s outbound shipments decreased mainly due to declining demand for chips and mobile devices. Exports of chips fell 24.3 percent to $5.58 billion, while the volume of mobile devices declined 43.8 percent to $906 million. The nation’s exports to China, its top trading partner, were down 26.6 percent to $7.2 billion, while shipments toward the U.S. rose 16.1 percent to $5.8 billion.

On the other hand, imports grew by 1.9 percent during the same period. As a result, the nation posted a trade deficit of $6.4 billion, larger than $2.43 billion in December last year and $4.38 billion a month earlier. The widening gap in outbound and inbound shipments increased cumulative deficits this year until Dec. 20 to $48.96 billion, which would be the first in 14 years after the nation recorded a deficit of $13.26 billion in 2008 when the economy struggled amid the global financial crisis.