South Korea Exports

Last Release

Feb 29, 2024

Actual

52,405

Units In

USD Million

54,700.28

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

N/A

Time to Release

N/A

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
63,478 Mar 2022	14.75 Jan 1966	17,473.97 USD Million	1966-2024	N/A

South Korea has an export oriented economy and its exports account for more than 50 percent of GDP. The country's exports tumbled 10.3 percent to USD 542.4 billion in 2019 after reaching a record high in the previous year, due to the US-China trade dispute, Japan's restrictions on exports, Brexit, and Hong Kong protests. Main exports were electrical machinery and equipment (28 percent of total exports), nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical (13 percent), road vehicles (12 percent), mineral fuels, mineral oils, bituminous substances (8 percent), plastics and articles thereof (6 percent), iron and steel (4 percent), optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring (4 percent), organic chemicals (4 percent), and ships and boats (3 percent). China was the largest destination of South Korea's shipments (25 percent of total exports), followed by the US (14 percent), Vietnam (9 percent), Hong Kong (6 percent), Japan (5 percent), Taiwan and India (3 percent each), and Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, Germany and the Philippines (2 percent each).

Latest Updates

Exports from South Korea rose by 24.0.7 percent year-on-year to USD 55.55 billion in October 2021, compared with market forecasts of 27.0 percent and after a 16.7 percent growth a month earlier. This was the twelfth straight month of expansion in overseas sales, extending their double-digit growth for the eight month in a row, amid robust foreign demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shipments expanded for semiconductors (28.8 percent), petrochemical products (138.1 percent), and steel (48.8 percent). In contrast, sales of declined 4.7 percent, amid chip shortages and base effects from last year. Sales to all nine major trade partners including China (24.9 percent), the US (22.0 percent), and the EU (19.6 percent) increased for the seventh month in a row.