SEOUL, Sept 1 — South Korea suffered a record high monthly trade deficit in August on high global energy prices, though its exports rose 6.6 per cent on-year, data showed today, reported Yonhap.
Outbound shipments stood at US$56.67 billion (RM254 billion) last month, up from UUS$53.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It is the highest tally for any August since the ministry began compiling related data in 1956. The previous record was set a year earlier.
August also marked the 22nd consecutive month that the country’s exports have logged an on-year expansion.
But the country posted a trade deficit of US$9.47 billion last month, the largest amount to date, as imports jumped 28.2 per cent on-year to US$66.15 billion on soaring global energy prices.
Imports have exceeded exports in South Korea since April, and it is the first time since 2008 that the country has suffered a trade deficit for five months in a row.
The deficit has grown from US$1.6 billion in May to US$2.49 billion in June and further to US$4.8 billion. The figure for April came to US$2.48 billion, according to government data.
South Korea depends on imports for most of its energy needs, and the country’s energy imports surged 91.8 per cent on-year to US$18.52 billion in August, the ministry said.
Dubai crude, South Korea’s benchmark, rose to US$96.63 per barrel in August on average from US$69.50 a year earlier.
The growth in exports had slowed down in recent months, as they began to mark a single-digit growth in June following a 15-month-long double-digit increase.
Overseas sales of semiconductors, a key export item, fell 7.8 per cent on-year to US$10.78 billion on dwindling demand and a fall in prices amid a global economic slowdown, according to the ministry.
It was the first on-year decline in 26 months. Semiconductors accounted for about 20 per cent of South Korea’s exports. — Bernama
