Trade Surplus for 37 Consecutive Months

South Korea's exports and imports dropped for two months in a row due to a decrease in operating days accompanied by the low oil prices. However, trade balance made a surplus of US$7.7 billion for 37 consecutive months as the amount of imports decreased more than exports.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) reported on Mar. 1 that last month's export amount was US$41.456 billion, which decreased 3.4 percent from the same month last year.

The MOTIE also analyzed that it also affected a drop in exports and imports. The average amount of exports per day, excluding the effect of the actual decrease in operating days, increased 9.3 percent from last year, and exports except products affected by oil price increased by 0.8 percent.

In February, export amount of petroleum products and petrochemicals increased by 3.8 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively. But the export price dropped by US$1.7 billion and US$900 million, respectively, due to a plunge of the export unit price.

Offshore plants showed favorable performance by increasing 127.2 percent from last year, mainly from high value ships. And semiconductors increased by 6.9 percent due to favorable exports of memory.

By region, although exports to the U.S. increased by 7.4 percent, exports to China decreased 7.7 percent, and exports weren't good for regions suffering recession, as exports to the European Union and Russia dropped 30.7 percent and 61.0 percent, respectively.

The amount of imports in February decreased 19.6 percent from the same period in last year with US$33.799 billion. As a result, the trade balance showed a surplus of US$7.658 billion.

The trade surplus of February is the highest monthly balance in history, and marks the 37th month that trade has been in a surplus.