South Korea’s trade flows likely stabilised in February from falls seen in January

South Korea's imports and exports are expected to stabilise in February from the decline witnessed in January. The exports are expected to decline to $34.8bn from $36.6bn in January, whereas imports are expected to fall to 28.3bn from $31.4bn. The weakness seen in January exports was particularly concerning as there was a considerable contraction in two main sectors - auto and electronics - and also decline in shipments to China.

The projected decline of exports and imports for February is likely to be mainly due to lesser working days in the month because of Luna New Year holidays. February's exports per working day is expected to have moderately increased from January, while imports per working day is likely to have had a similar rise. The raise in the year-on-year growth of imports and exports will also be explained by the number of working days in February. Meanwhile, trade surplus is expected to pick up from March as exports will increase because of seasonality.