SEOUL: South Korea’s exports jumped 24.4 percent in the first 20 days of June from a year earlier on robust overseas demand for semiconductors and ships, customs data showed Wednesday.
Total outbound shipments reached $31.9 billion in the June 1-20 period, up from $25.7 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to numbers compiled by the Korea Customs Service.
The increase was led by a 111.4 percent on-year surge in exports of vessels and a 51.1 percent gain in semiconductors.
Exports to China rose 7.4 percent over the 20-day period from a year earlier despite Beijing’s move to restrict imports of South Korean goods in retaliation for Seoul’s plan to deploy a US missile defense system on its soil. Shipments to Japan jumped 22.2 percent, and those to the European Union moved up 3 percent on-year.
But exports to the United States retreated 8.4 percent over the cited period amid the country’s efforts to reduce its trade surplus with the world’s largest economy.
Meanwhile, imports also advanced 20.7 percent on-year to $26.5 billion during the same period, with a trade surplus hitting $5.4 billion, up from the previous year’s surplus of $3.7 billion.
Exports of Asia’s fourth-largest economy have been on a roll since November last year on the back of recovering world trade and rising oil prices.
