Korea’s January Exports Hit a Record High of $65.85 Billion

 In the first month of the New Year, Korea’s exports reached a record high of $65.85 bil., fueled by a semiconductor boom. Semiconductor exports doubled compared to the same month of last year.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), Korea’s exports last month reached $65.85 billion, a massive 33.9% increase year-on-year. Average daily exports, taking into account operating days, also rose 14.0% to $2.8 bil., a record high.
January imports were recorded at $57.11 bil., an 11.7% increase. Energy imports decreased by 11.9%, but non-energy imports increased by 18.4%.

With exports exceeding imports, the trade balance in January reached a surplus of $8.74 billion, a $10.71 billion increase year-on-year, marking the 12th consecutive month of surplus.
Exports of 13 of the 15 major export items increased. Of these, semiconductor exports reached $20.54 bil., a 102.7% year-on-year increase. While this represents a slight decrease from the all-time high of $20.8 bil of December last year, it still represents the second-highest performance on record.

The strong semiconductor performance was largely due to rising memory fixed prices driven by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and data center infrastructure. Compared to the same month of last year, international memory fixed prices increased by 752% for DDR4 (8Gb), 661% for DDR5 (16Gb), and 334% for NAND (128Gb).
Wireless communication devices (USD 2.03 bil., up 66.9%) increased for the third consecutive month, while computers (USD 1.55 bil., up 89.2%) saw their fourth consecutive month of growth, driven by robust SSD exports fueled by growing demand for AI infrastructure. Displays (USD 1.38 bil., up 26.1%) also saw growth for the second consecutive month.

Automobile exports rose 21.7% to USD 6.07 bil., driven by increased operating days due to the Lunar New Year holiday being moved from January last year to February this year, and strong performance in eco-friendly vehicles such as hybrids and electric vehicles.
Conversely, petrochemical exports decreased 4.5% to USD 3.52 bil., impacted by lower export prices due to global oversupply.
By region, exports increased in seven of the nine major export markets, excluding Japan and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Exports to the USA (USD 12.02 bil., up 29.5%) were sluggish in many categories, including automobiles, auto parts, and general machinery, due to tariffs. However, semiconductor exports showed growth, setting a new record for January.
Exports to ASEAN also increased by 40.7% to USD 12.11 bil., demonstrating the continued recovery in manufacturing and trade in ASEAN countries.
 
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Korea’s January Exports Decreased by Over 10%
Semiconductor exports continued to perform well, achieving over US$10 billion for nine consecutive months.

Due to the early Lunar New Year holiday and other factors, Korea’s January exports decreased by more than 10%, and the 15-month consecutive ‘export plus’ streak came to a halt.
The main product, semiconductor exports, continued to perform well, achieving over $10 billion for nine consecutive months, but automobile exports, which were largely affected by the decrease in operating days, fell by nearly 20%.

The January export amount totaled $49.12 billion, down 10.3% from the same month last year.
Korea’s exports turned positive in October 2023 compared to the same month the previous year, and continued to record positive growth for 15 consecutive months until December last year, but this positive trend ceased in January 2025.
Looking at the trends of the 15 main export items, excluding the two items that are the largest export items, namely, semiconductors and computers, exports of 13 items decreased compared to last year. However, based on the daily average exports, the exports of 10 items increased.
Semiconductor exports in January increased by 8.1% from last year to $10.1 billion, recording the second highest January performance after 2022 ($10.8 billion).
Semiconductor exports recorded more than $10 billion for nine consecutive months, continuing the year-on-year export plus trend for 15 consecutive months.
Despite the seasonal decrease in demand for information technology (IT) products and the decline in general memory prices, the semiconductor export boom continued as demand for high value-added memory products such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) and DDR5 remained strong due to the artificial intelligence (AI) craze.
Computer item exports, including solid state drives (SSDs), also increased by 14.8% to $800 million, continuing their 13th consecutive month of growth.
Automobile exports, the second largest export item, decreased by 19.6% to $5 billion. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) analyzed that the decrease in the number of operating days was greater than that of other industries as automakers including Hyundai Motors and parts manufacturers designated Friday following the Lunar New Year holiday as an additional holiday.
Amid the global electric vehicle (EV) chasm (temporary stagnation in demand), EV exports decreased by 50.3%, while internal combustion engine vehicle exports also decreased by 20.8%, but hybrid vehicle exports increased by 37.1%, continuing their steady growth. Auto parts exports also decreased by 17.2% to $1.57 billion.

 
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