Outbound shipment reached 29.6 billion U.S. dollars in the Sept. 1-20 period, up 3.6 percent from the same period of last year, according to Korea Customs Service.
It was attributed to more business days. The number of working days was 15.5 in the cited period, up 2 days from a year earlier.
The daily average export reduced 9.8 percent amid the lingering economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Shipment of telecommunication devices such as smartphone declined 9.1 percent in the 20-day period, with export for oil products dropping 45.6 percent.
Export for semiconductors, cars and precision machinery jumped 25.3 percent, 38.8 percent and 14.7 percent each.
Shipment to China and the United States, South Korea's top two trading partners, grew 8.7 percent and 16.1 percent respectively, but export to Japan and the Middle East retreated 18.5 percent and 12.2 percent each.
Import reduced 6.8 percent over the year to 25.1 billion dollars in the 20-day period, sending the trade surplus to 4.5 billion dollars.
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