In May, South Korea recorded a current account surplus of approximately $38.6 billion (about 58 trillion won), driven by a supercycle in semiconductors, leading to the largest merchandise trade surplus in history.
According to preliminary statistics released by the Bank of Korea on July 8, the current account surplus for May was $38.61 billion, surpassing the previous record of $37.93 billion set in March. This marks the 37th consecutive month of surplus, the second-longest streak since the 2000s.
By category, the merchandise trade surplus reached a record $37.86 billion.
Exports totaled $94.34 billion, a 62.9% increase compared to the same month last year. Notably, exports of information technology (IT) products surged by 128.9%, with semiconductors up 167.7% and computers and peripherals up 249.4%. Non-IT items also saw a 10.0% increase, driven by petroleum products (+49.1%) and chemical products (+11.0%).
Regionally, exports to the United States (+59.4%), Southeast Asia (+74.4%), China (+80.8%), and Latin America (+43.2%) saw significant growth, while exports to the Middle East decreased by 7.5%.
Imports rose to $60.79 billion, a 20.7% increase from the same month last year. The growth rate for consumer goods imports slowed to 1.8%, but raw materials (+22.1%) and capital goods (+28.0%) continued to see strong increases. Notable increases in imports included petroleum products (+70.5%), coal (+37.2%), chemical products (+27.6%), and crude oil (+24.8%).
The services account recorded a deficit of $1.09 billion. However, an increase in inbound travelers turned the travel account into a surplus of $50 million, and seasonal factors contributed to a $70 million surplus in intellectual property royalties, reducing the overall services account deficit.
The primary income account showed a surplus of $2.17 billion, primarily due to a surplus in dividend income ($1.15 billion), reversing the deficit from the previous month.
The net financial account (assets minus liabilities) increased by $31.08 billion, expanding the surplus. In direct investment, domestic investments abroad rose by $4.56 billion, while foreign investments in South Korea increased by $2.69 billion.
Portfolio investment recorded a surplus of $30.89 billion, marking the second-largest increase on record after March's $38.05 billion. Domestic investments in foreign securities, particularly stocks, increased by $7.6 billion.
Conversely, foreign investments in domestic securities decreased by $24.65 billion, marking the second-largest decline on record. This was largely due to profit-taking sales following a rise in the domestic stock market, resulting in a net outflow of $31.05 billion in stock investments, the largest drop ever recorded. However, debt securities saw a net inflow of $6.4 billion, attributed to increased inflows into funds tracking the World Government Bond Index (WGBI).
* This article has been translated by AI.
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