Korea’s exports up 1.2% in first 10 days of June on more working days

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korea’s exports from June 1-10 rose about 1 percent from a year earlier due to more working days but semiconductor shipments and exports to China, which are important to the nation’s exports, remained sluggish.

According to Korea Customs Service on Monday, the value of exports from June 1-10 based on customs clearance was $15.27 billion, up 1.2 percent from the same period last year. This is the first that exports have posted a statistical increase for the first 10-day period since February when the rise was 11.6 percent. However, the average daily value of exports, which considers the number of working days, fell 6 percent.

The number of working days in the period was 7.0, 0.5 days higher than the same period last year.

On a year-on-year basis, monthly exports have been “negative” for eight consecutive months from October last year to last month.

By product, semiconductor exports were 31.1 percent lower than a year ago. Even with more working days, the decline in semiconductor exports has been significant.

Exports of petroleum products fell 35.8 percent, steel products 7.6 percent and computer peripherals 22.3 percent. In contrast, exports of passenger vehicles jumped 137.1 percent, ships 161.5 percent and auto parts 16.9 percent.

By country, exports to China, Korea’s largest trading partner, fell 10.9 percent in the period, marking the 12th consecutive month of decline. Shipments to Taiwan fell 49.8 percent and Singapore 44.1 percent, but exports to the U.S. rose 6.9 percent, the European Union climbed 26.6 percent, Vietnam gained 0.1 percent and Japan increased 9 percent.

During the same period, imports decreased by 20.7 percent to $16.68 billion.

Imports of the top three energy sources for the country - oil gas and coal - all declined. Imports of semiconductors dropped 29.5 percent and petroleum products fell 35.4 percent, but imports of machinery rose 6.9 percent and semiconductor manufacturing equipment gained 21.0 percent.

By country, shipments to the EU rose 13.2 percent and Vietnam was up 7.7 percent, while exports to China dropped 10 percent, the U.S. 36.1 percent and Saudi Arabia 44.8 percent.

The trade balance for the first 10 days of the month was a deficit of $1.41 billion.