Korea’s early-May exports jump 43.7% on strong chip demand

Korea’s exports jumped 43.7 percent from a year earlier in the first 10 days of May, driven by strong overseas demand for semiconductors, data showed on Monday.

Outbound shipments reached $18.4 billion between May 1 and 10 this year compared to $12.8 billion over the same period last year, according to data from the Korea Customs Service.

It marked the country’s largest exports recorded for the cited period, according to the agency.

During that time, imports went up 14.9 percent on year to $16.7 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $1.7 billion, the findings showed.

Per-day exports also surged 43.7 percent on year to $3.69 billion. The number of working days totaled five, unchanged from the same period last year.

By item, exports of semiconductors surged 149.8 percent on year to a record high of $8.54 billion due to a continued increase in memory chip prices fueled by high demand for AI servers.

The figure marked the highest amount ever recorded for the first 10 days of May.

Chip exports accounted for 46.3 percent of the country’s total exports during the cited period, up 19.7 percentage points from the same period last year.

Exports of computer products jumped 382.8 percent to $1.14 billion.

In contrast, auto exports went down 26 percent on year to $830 million.

By destination, exports to China, Korea’s top trading partner, soared 81.8 percent on year to $5.09 billion.

Shipments to the United States increased 17.9 percent to $2.34 billion despite the tariff scheme by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the data showed. Korea JoongAng Daily