SEOUL: South Korea's trade surplus widened from a year earlier last month as its imports shrank at a faster rate than exports, the government said Monday.
The country's trade surplus reached an estimated US$3.15 billion in September, compared with a $1.6 billion surplus the same month last year, according to the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
The figure also marks a growth from $2.04 billion in August.
Exports dropped 1.8% on-year to an estimated $45.66 billion with imports shrinking at a faster rate of 6.1% from the same period last year to an estimated $42.51 billion.
"Though both exports and imports shrank from a year earlier, the rate of the drop for exports slowed significantly and the country's trade balance posted a surplus for the eighth consecutive month," the ministry said in a press release.
Exports in August had dropped 6.2% on-year, following an 8.8% plunge in the previous month due to what the ministry called seasonal elements.
Exports in September dropped by a narrower margin with shipments of petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel, surging 24% from the same month last year and those of wireless communications devices growing 10% on-year, South Korea's news agency (Yonhap) reported.
Outbound shipments of steel products, on the other hand, dropped 9.1% while exports of ships more than halved, slipping 50.6% on-year.
The ministry said the slower drop in exports in September, compared with previous months, may indicate signs of a possible recovery, noting the daily average amount of exports last month came to $2.08 billion, compared with the daily average for the January-August period at $1.98 billion.
The ministry partly attributed last month's drop in exports to a continued global economic slowdown caused by the eurozone debt crisis and also a slower-than-expected growth of major developing countries, such as China.
The country's exports to China only inched up 1.1% from a year earlier with shipments to the United States dropping 0.4%. Only shipments to the Middle East showed a steady, strong rise, growing 17.8% on-year in September.
The ministry said the country's imports dropped partly because of its shrinking exports, which rely heavily on imported raw materials.
Inbound shipments of raw materials dropped 9.1% on-year in September with imports of coal and natural gas plunging 34.3% and 18.8%, respectively. Petroleum imports surged 26.9% on-year, apparently on the 24% hike in the country's exports of petroleum products. (QNA)
