Korea's July surplus hits $9.13 billion boosted by strong exports

Economy

Korea's July surplus hits $9.13 billion boosted by strong exports

Published: 06 Sep. 2024, 10:27

SHIN HA-NEE
shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr

Containers are stacked at a port in the southeastern city of Busan on July 1. [NEWS1]

Korea posted a current account surplus for the third consecutive month in July, driven by robust exports of chips and petroleum products, central bank data showed Friday.

The country's current account surplus stood at $9.13 billion in July, marking a positive trade balance for the third month in a row, according to data from the Bank of Korea.

However, the July surplus was smaller than the previous month's $12.56 billion, which was the largest since September 2017.

The goods account recorded an $8.49 billion surplus in July, down from an $11.74 billion surplus the previous month.

The nation's outbound shipments rose 16.7 percent on year in July to $58.64 billion, while imports increased 9.4 percent over the same period to $50.14 billion.

Data from the Korea Customs Service showed that semiconductor exports surged 50.1 percent from the same period last year to $11.42 billion in July. Exports of petroleum products also rose 16.8 percent to $4.56 billion. However, car exports dipped 8.9 percent to $5.18 billion.

The primary income account, which tracks wages of foreign workers, dividend payments from overseas and interest income, reported a $3.15 billion surplus in July, following a $2.71 billion surplus the previous month, according to the central bank.

The services account deficit widened to $2.38 billion in July, from a deficit of $1.6 billion the previous month.

BY SHIN HA-NEE, YONHAP [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]