Seoul
South Korea’s export posted the first rebound in 15 months in February due mainly to the higher number of business days, a government report showed Sunday.
Export, which accounts for about half of the South Korean economy, reached 41.26 billion U.S. dollars in February, up 4.5 percent from the same month of last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was the first turnaround since November 2018 owing to the higher number of business days, caused by the Lunar New Year holiday that moved to January this year from February last year.
The daily export averaged 1.83 billion U.S. dollars in February, down 11.7 percent from a year earlier. The daily shipment expanded 4.6 percent in January. Import added 1.4 percent over the year to 37.15 billion U.S. dollars in February, sending the trade surplus to 4.11 billion U.S. dollars. The trade balance stayed in the black for 97 straight months.
Semiconductor export increased 9.4 percent in February from a year earlier, marking the first rebound in 15 months thanks to higher price for DRAM chips and strong demand for chips used for datacenter servers.
General machinery shipment advanced 10.6 percent on solid U.S. demand, and ship export gained for two straight months on robust demand for liquified natural gas (LNG) carriers and very large crude carrier (VLCC). Computer export soared 89.2 percent, keeping an upward momentum for the fifth consecutive month, and shipment for telecommunication devices grew 8.0 percent thanks to higher demand for mobile phone components.—Xinhua
