Slow start for Korean exports in 2024 as EU shipments slide nearly 10%

Containers are stacked at Busan Port on Jan. 1. [YONHAP]

Korea's exports fell 1 percent on-year in the first 20 days of January, with exports of chips, ships and automobiles increasing but wireless communication devices and petroleum product exports decreasing.

Outbound shipments reached $33.3 billion in the Jan. 1-20 period, compared with $33.6 billion tallied a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Customs Service on Monday.

Imports fell 18.2 percent on-year to $35.9 billion during the period, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.6 billion.

Imports from Taiwan increased by 0.6 percent, while imports from China, the United States, the European Union and Japan fell by 19.5 percent, 22.7 percent, 23.9 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively.

The number of working days came to 15.5 over the period, compared with 16 tallied a year earlier. The customs agency noted that considering the daily average volume, exports moved up 2.2 percent on-year during the period.

By sector, exports of chips moved up 19.7 percent to reach $5.29 billion, with those of automobiles rising 2.6 percent to $3.47 billion.

Petroleum products, on the other hand, shed 0.9 percent to $2.85 billion. Outbound shipments of steel products also moved down 7.4 percent to $2.46 billion.

Exports of ships, meanwhile, shot up 89.8 percent to hit $1.92 billion, the data also showed.

By destination, exports to China, Korea's top trading partner, edged up 0.1 percent over the period to $6.8 billion.

Those to the United States advanced 3.6 percent to reach $6.18 billion. Exports to the European Union, on the other hand, fell 9.4 percent to $3.53 billion.

In December, monthly exports advanced 5.1 percent on-year to $57.6 billion, rising for the third consecutive month.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]