Semiconductor exports climb 40% despite Korea's holiday dip

Shipping containers are stacked in the yard at the Port of Busan on Feb.7. [NEWS1]

Korean exports fell nearly 15 percent on-year in the first 10 days of February as people celebrated the Lunar New Year yet semiconductor sales soared more than 40 percent, according to new data Tuesday.

The trade deficit stood at $2 billion in the same period.

Outbound shipments reached $15.01 billion in the Feb. 1 to 10 period, compared with $17.57 billion tallied a year earlier, according to data from the Korea Customs Service.

Per-day exports, however, increased 11.7 percent on-year to $2.31 billion.

The number of working days came to 6.5 days during the cited period this year, compared with 8.5 days a year earlier. Korea's Lunar New Year holiday ran from Feb. 9 to 12 this year.

Exports, a key economic growth engine, advanced 18 percent on-year to $54.6 billion in January, the fourth consecutive monthly gain, on the back of strong semiconductor demand.

By item, semiconductor exports surged 42.2 percent to $2.78 billion during the Feb. 1 to 10 period.

It was the first time chip exports jumped more than 40 percent during the first 10 days of a month since November 2021, when semiconductor sales soared 45.2 percent.

Chip sales accounted for 18.5 percent of the country's total exports, up 4.7 percentage points from the same period a year earlier.

But exports of petroleum products slipped 21 percent to $1.37 billion, and vehicle exports sank 36.3 percent to $1.11 billion.

Steel products and auto parts saw global sales fall 23.6 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively.

By destination, exports to the United States, a top trading partner, dropped 12.4 percent to $2.84 billion during the cited period.

Shipments to China went down 20.3 percent to $2.82 billion, and those to the European Union fell 35.5 percent to $1.45 billion.

Exports to Vietnam declined 19.2 percent to $1.28 billion, while those to Hong Kong surged 143.1 percent to $813 million.

Imports fell 24.6 percent on-year to $17.01 billion during the period.

The government said it expects exports to advance 8.5 percent this year to reach more than $700 billion, which would be a record high.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, YONHAP [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]