South Korea posted a record trade surplus last month as demand from the US boosted exports of products such as steel pipes and computers.
The US$7.5 billion surplus was the highest for any month, the trade ministry said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, and was bigger than the median estimate in a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.
Exports rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier, while imports dropped 3 percent.
The unexpectedly strong trade performance could further boost economic growth, which accelerated in the second quarter on stronger consumption and fiscal and monetary stimulus.
“US demand for Korean goods is solid, especially before the holiday season. We may continue to see growth in exports until the end of this year,” KDB Daewoo Securities economist Yoon Yeo-sam said in Seoul, adding that the yen’s fall after the Bank of Japan’s surprise expansion of monetary easing on Friday is a risk for South Korea’s exports.
The record surplus was driven by a jump in exports to the US, which climbed 25 percent from a year earlier.
Shipments to China, South Korea’s biggest trading partner, rose 3.7 percent, while those to Japan dropped 1.4 percent.
“If the yen continues to weaken, this will pose further downside risks to Korea’s exports,” Ronald Man (文略韜) of HSBC Holdings PLC in Hong Kong wrote in a note on Friday. “Lower export growth will weaken Korea’s economic outlook.”
The won fell 1.2 percent to close at 1,068.82 per US dollar in Seoul on Friday, the biggest decline since June last year, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.
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