South Korea's trade surplus hit a record high of more than 90 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 thanks to faster fall in imports than exports, a government report showed Friday.
Exports came in at 527.2 billion dollars in 2015, down 7.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports declined at a faster pace of 16.9 percent in 2015 from a year ago to reach 436.8 billion dollars. The 2015 trade surplus came to 90.4 billion dollars, marking the largest in the country's history.
The sluggish exports were attributed to various factors, such as the global economic slowdown, low oil prices and falling global trade. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the 2015 global economic growth at 3.1 percent, lower than 3.4 percent in 2014. Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, averaged 50.7 dollars a barrel in 2015, down 47.5 percent from a year earlier.
Exports of oil and petrochemical products tumbled 36.6 percent and 21.4 percent each in 2015 due to low crude oil prices. Shipments of cosmetics and telecommunication devices jumped 53.5 percent and 10 percent each, but those for auto parts, general machinery, cars, steels, textiles and consumer electronics made a decline.
Exports to the United States and China, South Korea's top two trade partners, dipped 0.6 percent and 5.6 percent each last year, and those to the European Union and Japan slumped 6.9 percent and 20.4 percent respectively.
The ministry expected the country's exports to rise 2.1 percent in 2016, reaching 538.2 billion dollars. Import was forecast to increase 2.6 percent to 448.2 billion dollars this year.
The global economy and trade were forecast to recover modestly this year, boosting demand for oil products and textiles as well as telecommunication devices, general machinery and automobiles, the ministry estimated. Exports in December alone came in at 42.6 billion U.S. dollars, down 13.8 percent from a year earlier.
Imports declined at a faster pace of 19.2 percent in December from a year earlier to reach 35.5 billion dollars. Helped by faster fall in imports than exports, trade surplus was 7.2 billion dollars in December, keeping a surplus trend for 47 months in a row.
Ship exports plunged 35.1 percent, and those for oil products and semiconductors dropped 25.6 percent and 17.1 percent due to lower product prices. Shipments of consumer electronics, cars, textiles and general machinery declined, but cosmetics exports increased 25.3 percent.
Exports of telecommunication devices, including smartphones, gained 7.6 percent. By region, exports to the United States and the European Union slumped 4.7 percent and 7.6 percent, and those to China, South Korea's largest trading partner, tumbled 16.7 percent.
Exports to Vietnam rose 5.2 percent, but those to Japan and the Middle East posted a double-digit reduction. Raw material imports plunged 27.6 percent on lower crude oil prices, and imports of capital and consumer goods slipped 17.1 percent and 9 percent respectively.
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