Exports for April 1-20 totaled $50.4 billion, up 49.4% from a year earlier, the Korea Customs Service said Monday, citing preliminary customs-cleared data. It was the largest figure ever recorded for the first 20 days of April. With the same 15.5 working days as a year earlier, average daily exports came to $3.25 billion.
Semiconductors drove the increase. Chip exports surged 182.5% to $18.3 billion, lifting their share of total exports to 36.3%, up 17.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Exports of petroleum products rose 48.4%, and computer peripherals jumped 399.0%.
Passenger car exports fell 14.1%, and auto parts slipped 8.8%.
By destination, exports rose to major markets including China (up 70.9%), the United States (51.7%), Vietnam (79.2%), the European Union (10.5%) and Taiwan (77.1%).
Imports for the period increased 17.7% to $39.9 billion. Imports of semiconductors rose 58.3%, crude oil 13.1% and semiconductor manufacturing equipment 63.3%, while machinery edged down 0.6%.
Energy imports — crude oil, gas and coal — increased 6.8%. Crude oil imports for April 1-20 rose for a third straight month, following $4.4 billion in February, $4.6 billion in March and $4.8 billion in April.
With exports outpacing imports, the trade balance posted a $10.4 billion surplus.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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