Korea’s exports at 22-month high in May on chips, cars

SEOUL : South Korea’s exports hit a 22-month high in May led by strong shipments of semiconductors and automobiles abroad, adding to hopes that overseas sales are expected to lead a recovery in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Exports rose 11.7% to $58.2 billion, the largest since July 2022, last month from a year earlier, extending an annual growth streak to eight months, showed data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Saturday.

“Exports are building a strong upward momentum while having led economic growth at the front line since the second half of last year,” said Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Dukgeun in a statement. “The government will provide all-out support for the upward trend to continue through the year-end.”

Imports dipped 2% to $53.2 billion in May, generating a trade surplus of $5 billion, the largest since December 2020. That ramped up the surplus to $15.5 billion in the first five months, compared with a deficit of $27.5 billion in the same period of 2023.

EXPORTS OF MEMORY CHIPS INCLUDING HBMS MORE THAN DOUBLE

Overseas sales of semiconductors, the country’s top export item, soared 54.5% to $11.4 billion in May on-year. South Korea is home to the world’s two largest memory chipmakers – Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc.

Shipments of memory chips including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips – semiconductors for artificial intelligence – more than doubled to $6.9 billion, while those of non-memory products 14.3% to $4.5 billion.