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A ship sets off from Pusan Newport International Terminal, carrying exports. (provided by HMM)

South Korea’s export boom continued in October, with exports up 24.0% from the same month last year. This is the 12th consecutive month of increases in exports.

The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy released tentative figures for last month’s import and export trends on Monday, reporting that exports had been worth US$55.55 billion. Along with growing each month since November 2020, exports have enjoyed a double-digit increase in each of the past eight months.

Exports over those eight months have charted in the US$50 billion range, with last month’s figures being the second highest after September (US$55.83 billion). The daily average value of exports last month was US$2.65 billion, once again the second highest after September (US$2.66 billion).

Exports from January to October add up to US$523.2 billion. That’s already more than last year’s total exports (US$512.5 billion) and represents the fastest Korea has ever reached US$500 billion for the year.

The ministry also reported that exports for October were valued at US$53.86 billion, an increase of 37.8% from the same month last year. That gave Korea a trade surplus of US$1.69 billion. Korea has now had a trade surplus for 18 months in a row.

Trade volume, representing the sum of import and export value, reached US$1 trillion in October, with Korea reaching that figure in the shortest time on record. Korea ranked eighth worldwide in trade volume, up one rung from last year.

By category, exports of semiconductors broke the US$10 billion barrier for the sixth month in a row, continuing a growth trend that has now lasted for 16 months. The total of semiconductor exports through October of this year passed US$100 billion, reaching US$103.2 billion.

Semiconductors were one of 14 major export categories that saw higher exports last month. The only category (out of 15 altogether) where exports declined was automobiles, which were down 4.7% from the same month last year.

“Exports have rapidly rebounded, driving recovery and growth in our economy during the pandemic. We expect to set historic records in exports and trade volume this year as they increase more rapidly than major countries including the US, Germany and Japan,” said Moon Sung-wook, South Korea’s trade and industry minister.

Korea set its previous record for export value in 2018, at US$604.9 billion.

“The export recovery trend is contributing to growth and recovery in the economy as a whole. We expect our average growth rate in 2020 and 2021, which illustrates growth trends throughout the COVID-19 crisis, to exceed that of the G7 countries,” the ministry said.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that South Korea’s economic growth rate over the past two years will be 1.7%, which is higher than the US (1.3%), Canada (0.2%), and the group of advanced economies (0.4%).

According to the World Trade Organization, Korea’s cumulative export growth rate between January and August was the fourth highest among major countries.

By Kim Young-bae, senior staff writer

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