{"id":667487,"date":"2026-07-01T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T07:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/667487\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T07:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T07:00:13","slug":"s-koreas-monthly-exports-hit-100b-for-1st-time-in-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/667487\/","title":{"rendered":"S. Korea’s monthly exports hit $100b for 1st time in June"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Containers Containers are stacked at a port in the southeastern city of Busan on Wednesday. (Yonhap) <\/p>\n

South Korea’s monthly exports hit a fresh high by surpassing the $100 billion mark for the first time in June, amid the record-breaking performance of chips, data showed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Outbound shipments surged 70.9 percent on-year to $102.25 billion in June, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.<\/p>\n

Imports rose 30.1 percent on-year to $66.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $36.15 billion.<\/p>\n

It also marked the first time that the monthly trade balance has surpassed $30 billion.<\/p>\n

The trade ministry said South Korea became the world’s fourth nation to achieve the $100 billion milestone, following Germany, the United States and China.<\/p>\n

Exports of semiconductors nearly tripled to reach $44.82 billion, with monthly exports surpassing $40 billion for the first time on the back of surging demand for memory chips.<\/p>\n

Outbound shipments of computer products soared more than 300 percent to $5.41 billion as global tech companies expanded investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, the ministry added.<\/p>\n

Exports of mobile devices also jumped 51.9 percent to $1.55 billion amid growing demand for new smartphones.<\/p>\n

The data showed automobile exports rising 5.8 percent to $6.71 billion following the stabilization of auto parts supplies.<\/p>\n

Outbound shipments of petroleum products moved up 49.8 percent to $5.59 billion on higher prices, while those of petrochemical goods rose 18.8 percent to $4.07 billion.<\/p>\n

Other major winners included ships, displays and steel products, whose exports moved up 12.9 percent, 37 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively.<\/p>\n

By destination, exports to China shot up 92.1 percent to $20 billion, driven by solid growth in semiconductors, petrochemical products, machinery and mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Exports to the United States also moved up 78.6 percent to $20 billion during the period, driven by expanding investment in AI servers.<\/p>\n

Outbound shipments to Southeast Asian nations also rose 86.6 percent to $18.3 billion, while those to the European Union increased 31.8 percent to $7.62 billion.<\/p>\n

Over the January-June period, exports also reached a record high, rising 48.4 percent from a year earlier to $496.7 billion.<\/p>\n

“In a positive scenario, annual exports of 1 trillion won are not an unattainable target,” said Kang Kam-chan, a senior trade official.<\/p>\n

Semiconductor exports shot up 163 percent from a year earlier in the first half.<\/p>\n

“South Korea was able to post a record export performance in the first half on the back of robust semiconductor exports driven by demand for AI servers,” Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said in a release.<\/p>\n

“In the second half, uncertainties are expected to persist, with factors including US tariff measures, oil price volatility and the possibility of a global economic slowdown,” Kim added, noting South Korea will make efforts to address such challenges through close coordination with its trading partners. (Yonhap)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Containers are stacked at a port in the southeastern city of Busan on Wednesday. (Yonhap) South Korea’s monthly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-667487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}