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Korea's exports drop 7.8% this month due to Chuseok holiday

Published: 21 Oct. 2025, 11:41 Updated: 21 Oct. 2025, 14:39

Export-bound cars are parked at Pyeongtaek Port in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 12. [YONHAP]

Korea's exports shrank 7.8 percent from a year earlier in the first 20 days of this month, data showed Tuesday, mainly due to fewer working days stemming from the extended Chuseok holiday.

Outbound shipments reached $30.1 billion in the Oct. 1 to 20 period, compared with $32.7 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to data from the Korea Customs Service.

The decline was largely attributed to the long Chuseok holiday earlier this month, reducing the number of working days to 10.5, compared with 12.5 days in the same period last year, the agency said.

Despite the overall drop, average daily exports jumped 9.7 percent on-year, the data showed.

Imports went down 2.3 percent on-year to $32.9 billion over the cited period, resulting in a trade deficit of $2.8 billion, the data showed.

By destination, exports to the United States plummeted 24.7 percent to $4.2 billion amid tariff measures by President Donald Trump's administration.

Even on a daily average basis, exports to the United States dropped 10.3 percent, the data showed.

Exports to China, Korea's top trading partner, also went down 9.2 percent to $6.6 billion.

By item, exports of semiconductors surged 47 percent from a year earlier to $8.5 billion. Chip exports accounted for 28.3 percent of the country's total exports over the cited period, up 6.6 percentage points from the same period last year.

In September, exports jumped 12.7 percent from a year earlier to $65.95 billion on strong demand for semiconductors, reaching an all-time high for the first time in 3.5 years.

Yonhap