Korea’s exports for May 2014 amounted to US$47.9 billion, a year-on-year decreased of 0.9%, and the nation’s imports during the same month reached at US$42.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%. The trade surplus was US$5.3 billion, marking a 28th consecutive month of surplus.

Although the daily average exports reached US$2.23 billion, the second highest in Korea’s history, the export amount decreased slightly due to a reduction in operating days.

Exports of ships and oil products grew, and exports to the EU and the USA were robust. While exports of ships (growth of deliveries of offshore plants), steel (robust exports of hot rolled steel sheet, a key export item) and oil products (increase in unit price for exports) grew, there was a decline in the exports of cars, semiconductors (fewer operating days), LCDs (decline in panel unit price) and mobile devices (base effect and inventory accumulation in Europe and China) declined.

Inspired by recovered economies in some advanced nations, exports to the EU (growth of capital goods including IT parts) and the USA (robust exports of durable goods including cars and raw materials including steel and oil products) grew, while there was a decline in exports to China (weak exports of raw materials including oil products and general machinery) and ASEAN (weak exports of capital goods including ships and general machinery, and the political uncertainty in Thailand).

Exports to Japan, which had grown for two consecutive months thanks to the base effect, began to decline due to weak exports of capital goods. Meanwhile, imports of commodities increased, while imports of raw materials and capital goods decreased.

Of the five raw materials, imports of oil products (increase of heavy oil imports due to operation of the advanced equipment) and steel increased, while imports of crude oil (regular maintenance of facilities) and gases decreased.

Imports of capital goods such as industrial machinery and car parts increased, while imports of semiconductors and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing decreased. Of the commodities, imports of cars are continuously growing. As a result, the daily average exports for May were the second highest in Korea’s history, and the daily average exports from January to May (US$2.11 billion) increased by 4.4%, causing Korean exports to steadily grow.

The export amount, however, decreased slightly in May due to a reduction in operating days (1.5days) and the voluntary holiday of May 2. It is expected that Korea will continuously expand exports given the recovery of the advanced economies, including the USA and the EU.

 
 
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