SEOUL: South Korea posted a trade surplus for the 43rd month in a row in August as imports dropped at a much faster pace than exports, customs data showed Tuesday.
According to the data by the Korea Customs Service, the country’s trade surplus reached $4.27 billion last month, up from $3.31 billion the year before but smaller than the $6.9 billion reached in July.
Exports plunged 14.9 percent on-year to $39.24 billion in August, while imports nosedived 18.3 percent to $34.97 billion. In August 2014, exports hit $46.1 billion, with imports standing at $42.79 billion.
The KCS said that exports were down 14.2 percent from the month before, with imports backtracking 9.9 percent. South Korea’s trade account has been in the black since February 2012. Last month, semiconductor exports rose a solid 4 percent on-year, with numbers for wired telecommunication terminal equipment jumping 37.9 percent.
On the downside, overseas shipments of cars and automobile parts fell 9.4 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively, with ships, refined petroleum products, liquid crystal devices and consumer electronics all losing ground.
By region, exports to Hong Kong rose 9.6 percent, with shipments to China and the United States moving down 9.1 percent and 4.6 percent on-year. Exports to the European Union, Japan, Latin America and the Middle East all lost ground from a year earlier.
The latest data from the KCS showed computer chip imports rose 10 percent on-year in August, with machinery gaining 3.4 percent. Crude oil imports dropped 45.4 percent, with minerals and steel products all down last month. Imports from the United States and China rose, while shipments from the Middle East, Japan, EU and Australia fell.
In the first eight months of 2015, the country’s cumulative exports reached $353.6 billion, down 6.3 percent from a year earlier, while imports came to $296.2 billion, representing a 15.8 percent drop.
In the January-August period, the country’s trade surplus stood at $57.4 billion, much larger than the $25.5 billion in the black posted for the same period in 2014, according to the KCS data. The total surplus for this year already exceeds the total for the whole of 2014 that stood at $47.2 billion.
