10 out of 13 Items Suffer Setback
South Korea’s exports declined last month, with 10 out of its 13 major export items suffering a setback. The country’s overall exports declined 8.2% from a year ago.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on October 1 that South Korea’s total exports for last month decreased by 8.2% year on year to US$50.58 billion.
Among the 13 key export items, semiconductors, petroleum products and computers posted an increase of 28.3%, 13.5% and 5.7%, respectively.
Yet the remaining 10 items all registered a decrease in shipments. Specifically, automobile and auto parts exports fell 22.4% and 18.2%, respectively. The rate of decrease was 35.8% for consumer electronics, 12.1% for displays, and 55.5% for ships.
South Korea’s reliance on semiconductor exports increased again. Last month, the ratio of semiconductor exports to the total exports hit a record high of 24.57%.
Due to semiconductor exports, the average daily exports for September this year hit an all-time high of US$2.59 billion with a year-on-year increase of 10.6%. South Korea’s monthly exports topped US$50 billion for the fifth consecutive month.