SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s exports rose for a fourth month in January, with chip sales growing by the most in six years in a boost to the export-reliant economy, trade data showed on Thursday.
Exports shipped by Asia’s fourth-largest economy rose 18.0% year-on-year to $54.69 billion in January, compared with a rise of 5.0% in December and a gain of 17.8% tipped in a Reuters poll of economists.
It was the biggest percentage increase since May 2022, boosted by a favourable comparison from a year ago when there were less working days due to the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays.
South Korea’s exports had swung to growth since October, after a year-long downturn, and are expected to improve further this year as a main driver of economic growth.
Exports of semiconductors jumped 56.2%, the biggest since December 2017, extending gains to a third month and leading the upturn in exports.
By destination, China-bound shipments gained 16.1%, snapping a 19-month streak of declines. Exports to the United States rose 26.9%, extending gains to a sixth straight month, while those to the European Union climbed 5.2%.
Imports declined 7.8% in January, after dropping 10.8% in December, while economists had expected a fall of 7.6%. It was the slowest since March 2023.
That took the preliminary trade balance for the month to a surplus of $0.30 billion, after a surplus of $4.46 billion in the previous month, which was the biggest in three years.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Cynthia Kim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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