South Korea's exports posted the longest monthly fall for 15 months through March due to soft global demand and low crude oil prices, a government report showed Friday.
Exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy, declined 8.2 percent from a year earlier to 43 billion U. S. dollars in March, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The results recorded the longest monthly decline in exports for 15 months in a row, but the falling pace slowed down after registering a double-digit decline for three months to February. After peaking at 18.9 percent in January, the falling pace in exports slowed to 12.2 percent in February and 8.2 percent in March. Despite the improvement, it remains to be seen whether such trend would continue as negative factors lingered such as delayed global recovery and low crude oil prices, which pulled down export prices of major oil products.
Imports tumbled 13.8 percent from a year earlier to 33.2 billion dollars in March. Both exports and imports kept a downward trend for 15 straight months. Trade balance stayed in the black for 50 months in a row, with a surplus of 9.8 billion dollars in March, but it was a so-called recession-type surplus due to falls in both exports and imports.
By products, exports of oil products and petrochemicals tumbled 41.6 percent and 9 percent each amid lower oil prices. Display panel shipments logged a double-digit fall amid lower product prices, and ship exports declined 28.9 percent. Exports in cars and auto parts shed 5.7 percent and 4.1 percent each, with those for computers, general machine and home appliances going down last month. Shipments of telecommunication devices, including smartphones, jumped 19.9 percent in March in the wake of launches of new models such as Samsung's Galaxy S7 and LG's G5. Steel exports turned upward for the first time in nine months, and those for cosmetics and solid state drive (SSD) posted a double-digit increase.
Exports to the European Union (EU) advanced 12.7 percent due to demand for locally-made cars and steels, with those to Vietnam and India rising more than 11 percent on the back of demand for chips and mobile phones. Shipments to China, South Korea's largest trading partner, declined 12.2 percent in March on a yearly basis, after falling 21. 5 percent in January and 12.9 percent in February respectively.
Imports of capital and consumer goods declined 11.1 percent and 12.8 percent each. Inbound shipments of crude oil, natural gas, steel products and oil products tumbled 43 percent, 36.9 percent, 23.3 percent and 34.8 percent respectively.
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