South Korea posts trade surplus for 56 straight months in September

The South Korean economy posted a trade surplus for 56 straight months during the period of September, as the fall in imports outnumbered the decline in exports.

South Korea’s revised figure for trade surplus in September reached USD6.9 billion, up from USD5.1 billion surplus in the previous month, data released by the Korea Customs Service (KCS) showed Tuesday. Further, the trade balance had stayed muted since February 2012, tracking fall in both exports as well as imports.

In addition, exports, which account for about half of the economy, slumped 5.9 percent from a year earlier to USD40.9 billion in September, while imports shed 1.7 percent to USD34 billion. Outbound shipments of auto parts picked up 3.4 percent, but exports of semiconductors, steels, oil products, cars, ships and flat panels all went down last month, the data showed.

Exports to Japan and Latin America increased, but those to China and the United States, South Korea's top two trading partners, slumped 9 and 6 percent respectively. Also, exports to the European Union (EU) tumbled 14.5 percent on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, during the January-September period, exports amounted to USD363.1 billion, down 8.5 percent from the same period of last year. Imports declined 10.6 percent to USD295.3 billion in the given period, pushing the trade surplus to USD67.8 billion.