SEOUL, October 26 (AJP) — South Korean small and midsized companies posted record third-quarter exports as booming cosmetics and semiconductor shipments outweighed a sharp drop in automobile exports, government data showed Monday.
Exports by small and medium-sized enterprises rose 8.8 percent from a year earlier to $33.4 billion in the July-September period, according to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS).
The total was the highest for a third quarter, while exports in the first nine months rose 9.5 percent to a record $96.5 billion.
The number of exporting SMEs also increased 1.6 percent to a record 90,765 over the January-September period.
“Despite an unstable external environment, SMEs continued to expand exports not only to major markets such as the United States but also to emerging markets including Latin America,” said Shim Jae-yoon, a senior ministry official overseeing global growth policy.
Cosmetics exports jumped 28.6 percent to a record $2.79 billion in the third quarter, supported by strong demand in North America, Europe and Latin America.
Semiconductor exports surged 68.8 percent to $1.39 billion as global artificial intelligence investment boosted chip demand, while shipments of semiconductor manufacturing equipment rose 38.3 percent to $1.14 billion.
Automobile exports, however, plunged 42.4 percent to $1.5 billion amid shipping disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict.
Shipments of automobiles to the United Arab Emirates dropped 66.6 percent, while automobile exports for the first nine months fell 26.4 percent to $4.8 billion.
The United States became the largest overseas market for Korean SMEs in the third quarter, with exports rising 19.6 percent to $5.73 billion.
Exports to China increased 12.9 percent to $5.43 billion, while shipments to the Middle East fell 7.8 percent to $1.46 billion amid geopolitical tensions.
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