South Korea Sees 23.5 Percent Surge in Exports

(MENAFN) South Korea's exports surged by double digits in the first three weeks of February, driven by an extraordinary spike in demand for domestically produced semiconductors, official customs data revealed Monday.

Outbound shipments soared 23.5 percent year-on-year to $43.52 billion between Feb. 1 and Feb. 20, figures released by the Korea Customs Service showed. On a daily average basis, exports rocketed 47.3 percent to $3.35 billion across the 20-day window — underscoring the accelerating pace of trade recovery.

Semiconductors led the charge, with shipment values more than doubling to $15.12 billion, cementing chips as the backbone of South Korea's export economy. The automotive sector, however, told a starkly different story, with vehicle exports contracting 26.6 percent to $2.65 billion.

Oil products, vessels and mobile devices all registered double-digit growth on the outbound side, while auto parts and precision machinery shipments fell by double figures, highlighting an uneven recovery across industrial sectors.

On the import side, inbound shipments climbed 11.7 percent to $38.57 billion over the same period, leaving South Korea with a trade surplus of $4.95 billion. Imports of chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, natural gas, coal, automobiles and mobile devices each recorded double-digit increases, though machinery imports edged down by a single-digit margin.

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