Exports Up for 11 Consecutive Months Through August... Andeokgeun: "We Will Develop Measures to Revitalize Orders in Defense, Nuclear Power, and Plant Sectors" (Comprehensive)

August Export-Import Trends
Exports Reach $57.9 Billion... Highest August Record Ever
Andeokgeun, Minister of Industry, "Korea Shows Highest Growth Rate Among Top 10 Global Exporting Countries"

Exports increased by more than 11% last month, continuing the export growth trend that began in October last year for 11 consecutive months. The government is launching an all-out effort to achieve Korea's highest-ever export performance and plans to develop measures to revitalize order-receiving industries such as defense, nuclear power, and plants to further expand exports.

According to the August trade statistics announced by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 1st, export value recorded $57.9 billion, an increase of 11.4% compared to the previous year. This broke the trend of being the second-best monthly performance until July this year and achieved the highest-ever performance for August.

Despite a decrease of 0.5 working days (1 weekday) compared to the previous year, exports increased by double digits (11.4%), maintaining a positive export trend for 11 consecutive months.

Cargo is stacked on a container ship docked at Busan Port. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

In August, exports of 7 out of the 15 major export items increased. Semiconductors, Korea's largest export item, recorded the highest-ever export value of $11.9 billion (38.8%) in August, maintaining over $11 billion for four consecutive months and a positive trend for 10 consecutive months. Computer exports increased by triple digits (183%) to $1.5 billion, marking eight consecutive months of growth, and wireless communication device exports also rose by 50.4% to $1.8 billion, recording positive growth for six consecutive months.

Automobile exports slightly decreased ($5.1 billion, -4.3%) due to production line modernization work and wage and collective bargaining issues at some companies, but ship exports ($2.8 billion, 80.0%) turned positive after three months.

Petroleum product exports recorded $4.5 billion (1.4%), marking six consecutive months of increase, and petrochemicals reached $4.2 billion (6.9%), increasing for five consecutive months. Biohealth exports recorded the highest-ever August performance of $1.28 billion (39.0%), increasing for two consecutive months.

Exports increased in 8 out of 9 major markets last month. Exports to China rose by 7.9% to $11.4 billion, driven by semiconductor and wireless communication device exports amid IT industry improvement, maintaining over $10 billion for six consecutive months. Exports to the United States also recorded the highest-ever August figure of $10 billion (11.1%), setting a new monthly record for 13 consecutive months.

Exports to the EU reached $6.4 billion (16.1%), turning positive after seven months due to increased exports of ships, wireless communication, and computer IT items. Notably, the August export value surpassed the previous record of $6.3 billion set in March 2021, marking the highest-ever performance in 41 months.

Exports to the three major export markets, ASEAN, recorded $9.8 billion (1.7%), and exports to India ($1.6 billion, 2.3%) increased for five consecutive months. Additionally, exports to Japan ($2.5 billion, 6.8%), Latin America ($2.6 billion, 29.4%), and the CIS ($1.0 billion, 11.2%) increased for two consecutive months.

Imports in August amounted to $54.07 billion, an increase of 6.0%. Energy imports rose by 17.3% to $12.6 billion due to increased crude oil (30.1%) and gas (5.7%) imports.

Last month, the trade balance recorded a surplus of $3.83 billion, maintaining a surplus trend for 15 consecutive months. The cumulative trade balance from January to August recorded a surplus of $30.6 billion, three times the total deficit of $10.3 billion for 2023.

Anduk Geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. (File photo)

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy An Deok-geun stated, "As of the first half of this year, Korea recorded the highest export growth rate among the world's top 10 export countries," and emphasized, "The government will focus all available resources until the end of the year to launch an all-out export campaign as a public-private one team to expand exports."

He added, "To achieve the targets for key items such as $135 billion for semiconductors, $100 billion for automobiles and parts, and $103 billion for petroleum products and chemicals, we will mobilize all policy tools including finance and marketing. Additionally, to further expand exports, we will prepare measures to revitalize order-receiving industries such as defense, nuclear power, and plants. During the remaining period of this year, we will intensively operate export field support teams focusing on promising items with high export potential to actively identify and resolve on-site difficulties faced by export companies," he said.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.