Trade surplus amounted to 5.3 billion U.S. dollars in October, after logging 6.0 U.S. billion dollars in September, according to Korea Customs Service.
The trade balance stayed in black for 93 months since February 2012, but the surplus reduced compared with the previous month.
Export, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, retreated 14.8 percent over the year to 46.7 billion U.S. dollars in October, while import diminished 14.6 percent to 41.4 billion U.S. dollars.
Semiconductor export tumbled 32.1 percent last month on the continued downturn in business cycle of the global chip industry.
Oil product shipment dropped 26.2 percent on cheaper crude oil, and display panel export plunged 64.5 percent.
Export for telecommunications devices, such as smartphone, jumped 35.2 percent on demand from Vietnam, China and Germany, while home appliance shipment advanced 11.6 percent on demand from the United States and China.
Export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, dived 16.9 percent, with those to the United States and the European Union sliding 8.5 percent and 21.2 percent respectively.
For the first 10 months of this year, export amounted to 452.7 billion U.S. dollars, down 10.4 percent compared with the same period of last year.
Import reduced 5.7 percent to 418.8 billion U.S. dollars in the 10-month period, sending the trade surplus to 33.9 billion U.S. dollars.
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