Korea’s trade deficit nears $30bn this year as exports set to fall for 8th month

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s exports are set to decline for an eight straight month with the country’s trade balance in the red for more than 14 months, bringing the trade deficit to nearly $30 billion this year.

According to the Korea Customs Service on Thursday, exports on a customs-cleared basis from May 1-10 was $14.49 billion, down 10.1 percent from a year ago. The number of working days during the period was 6.5 days, the same as last year, with average daily exports falling by 10.1 percent.

The overall value of exports declined from October last year and the negative trend continued until the beginning of this month. It is the first time since December 2018-January 2020 that the country’s exports have fallen for more than seven months.

By item, semiconductors, which account for the largest share of Korean exports, fell 29.4 percent from a year earlier. Semiconductor exports had fallen for nine consecutive months until last month.

By country, exports to China fell 14.7 percent with the decline in exports to China ongoing for 11 months.

During the same period, imports fell 5.7 percent to $18.65 billion. By country, imports increased from the EU, Australia and Malaysia, while those from China, the U.S and Saudi Arabia fell.

The trade deficit for the May 1-10 period was $4.17 billion, widening from a deficit of $3.88 billion in the same period last month. The monthly deficit was $2.62 billion last month.

The trade balance has been in deficit for 14 consecutive months since March last year. This is the first time since January 1995 through May 1997 that the trade deficit has been in the red for more than 14 months.