South Korea's customs agency reported on Tuesday that export values for the first 10 days of August reached $21.3 billion, a 45.3% increase from $14.6 billion in the same period last year, driven by robust global demand for memory chips.
During the same period, imports grew 23.1% year-on-year to $19.5 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.8 billion.
Key sector breakdown: Semiconductor exports surged 155.4% to $9.95 billion, maintaining strong growth amid the global AI boom. Chip exports accounted for 46.8% of total exports during the period, up 20.1 percentage points from a year ago.
Petroleum product exports rose 65.3% year-on-year to $1.99 billion. In contrast, automobile exports plunged 80.9% to $182 million.
By destination: Exports to China more than doubled to $6.7 billion, while shipments to Vietnam grew 45.4% to $2.39 billion. Exports to the United States edged down 0.2% to $2 billion.
As of August 10, South Korea's cumulative exports for this year stood at $616.3 billion, up 50.3% from a year earlier. The country's trade surplus for the year-to-date period reached $169.5 billion.
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