Exports in June Increased 4.3% Year-on-Year, Recovering Growth for the First Time

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) recently announced the export and import trends for June: exports in June amounted to $59.8 billion, up 4.3% from the same month last year; while imports amounted to $50.72 billion, up 3.3% from the previous year.
Despite the impact of U.S. tariffs, semiconductors, a key flagship product, recorded the highest performance ever, while automobile exports also achieved the highest performance ever in June, leading overall exports.
Monthly exports increased for 15 consecutive months from October 2023 compared to the same month last year, but then decreased in January this year. After increasing for three consecutive months, they fell in May, but recovered growth again in just one month.

The largest export item, semiconductors, increased 11.6% from last year to $14.97 billion (approximately KRW 20.2 trillion), rewriting the record for the highest performance ever.
Monthly semiconductor exports slightly decreased (-3%) in February, but have been increasing for four consecutive months since March, thanks to solid demand for high-value products such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and the upward trend in fixed prices.
Automobile exports increased by 2.3% to $6.3 billion. This is the highest performance ever in June. Exports to the USA decreased due to the impact of U.S. tariffs, but exports to the European Union (EU) increased and used car exports increased significantly, leading to the overall increase.
Looking at exports by major country, exports to both the United States and China, the two largest export markets, showed a decrease. Exports to the United States, directly affected by the ‘Trump tariffs,’ decreased by 0.5% year-on-year to $11.24 billion, and exports to China also decreased by 2.7% to $10.42 billion.
Total exports in the first half of this year (January to June) amounted to $334.7 billion, down 0.03% year-on-year, similar to last year. However, the trade balance showed a surplus of $27.8 billion, an improvement of $4.8 billion from last year. It is evaluated that this was relatively good despite the influence of the U.S. tariffs.
The trade balance in June recorded a surplus of $9.08 billion, the largest since September 2018.

 
korean-electronics.com | Blog Magazine of korean electronics, brands and Goods