Last month, South Korea's exports amounted to $58.21 billion, an increase of 3.7% compared to the same month last year.
Imports totaled $53.32 billion, a decrease of 2.7% compared to the same month last year. The trade balance, subtracting imports from exports, recorded a surplus of $4.88 billion.
According to the April trade trends released on the 1st by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, amid changes in the trade landscape driven by the U.S., South Korea's exports have continued positive growth for three consecutive months. Last month's exports were the largest recorded for any April. They increased by $370 million compared to the previous record for April of $57.84 billion set in 2022.
The strong export performance was driven by semiconductors, the country's top export item. Semiconductors saw a rebound in the fixed price of DDR4 8Gb dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) for the first time in 12 months since April 2024, while the strong exports of high-value-added memory such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) continued, recording $11.7 billion, the largest for any April. This represents an increase of 17.2% compared to the same month last year.
Exports of wireless communication devices also recorded $1.5 billion, an increase of 26.5%, centered around smartphone exports ($400 million, +61.1%), continuing three consecutive months of growth.
Biohealth exports increased by 14.6% to $1.4 billion compared to the same month last year. Exports of biopharmaceuticals grew significantly to $900 million (+21.8%).
Steel exports rose by 5.4% to $3 billion, marking a return to positive growth after four months. Exports of rechargeable batteries also broke a 16-month streak of negative performance and recorded an increase of 13.7% to $700 million. Ship exports also rose by 17.3% to $2 billion, marking two consecutive months of increases.
On the other hand, exports of automobiles, another major export item, declined by 3.8%. However, the export amount ($6.5 billion) achieved the highest performance of the year.
Thanks to the K-food craze, exports of agricultural and fishery products achieved the largest amount ever recorded for any month, reaching $1.1 billion.
By region, exports increased in seven out of the nine major markets.
Exports to China were $10.9 billion, an increase of 3.9% compared to the same month last year, with a rebound in semiconductor exports, which had been declining this year, and double-digit growth in wireless communication device exports contributing to the overall increase.
Exports to ASEAN increased by 4.5% to $9.4 billion, thanks to the strong performance of semiconductors and steel.
Exports to the European Union achieved the largest amount ever recorded at $6.7 billion (+18.4%), driven by double-digit growth in exports of automobiles and biohealth.
Exports to the United States decreased by 6.8% to $10.6 billion. Although exports of petroleum products, rechargeable batteries, and wireless communication devices showed strong performance, exports of automobiles and general machinery, the two main items, declined.
In April, imports recorded $53.32 billion, a decrease of 2.7%. Energy imports totaled $10 billion, a 20.1% decrease compared to the same month last year. Other imports, including semiconductor equipment (+18.2%), increased by 2.4% to reach $43.4 billion.
In April, the trade surplus recorded $4.88 billion, an increase of $3.6 billion compared to the same month last year. The cumulative trade surplus from January to April reached $12.2 billion, an increase of $2.3 billion compared to the same month last year.
Minister Ahn Duk-geun noted that "Despite a decrease in exports to the U.S. in April, overall exports continued a positive trend for three consecutive months due to increases in exports to major countries. In particular, in April, not only key items like semiconductors and biohealth but also cosmetics, agricultural and fishery products, and electric devices set record export figures for any April, demonstrating that our export competitiveness remains solid."