Outbound shipment, which takes up about half of the export-driven economy, amounted to 30.4 billion U.S. dollars during the December 1-20 period, down 2.0 percent from the same period of last year, according to Korea Customs Service.
The daily average export, which reflects the number of working days, reduced 5.1 percent in the cited period.
Chip export tumbled 16.7 percent on the downturn of the global chip industry that led to lower product price.
Ship export dived 51.2 percent, but shipments for automobiles and telecommunication devices such as smartphone grew 2.7 percent and 3.0 percent respectively.
Export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, rose 5.3 percent in the period, with those to Japan rising 6.2 percent.
Shipment to the Middle East advanced 46.8 percent, but those to the United States and the European Union (EU) slipped 3.4 percent and 7.1 percent each.
Import inched down 0.5 percent over the year to 30.1 billion dollars in the 20-day period, sending the trade surplus to 0.3 billion dollars.
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