The latest data released by South Korean customs on Monday showed that the daily average shipment volume for the first 20 days of October increased by 8.6% compared to the same period last year, marking the first positive growth since September last year.
The latest trade report shows that the total export volume of South Korea in the 20th day of the month (excluding workday differences) increased by 4.6% compared to the same period last year, while imports increased by 0.6%. Among them, South Korea's exports to China, a major global demand country, decreased by 6.1%, but it was the smallest decline since last summer, while exports to the United States increased significantly by 12.7%; The data also shows that export shipments to Japan and Singapore have increased by 20% and 37.5%, respectively.
In the first 20 days of this year, South Korean semiconductor export sales reached approximately 5.2 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4%. However, data shows that this is much smaller than the 14.4% decline in September. South Korean customs also stated that the trade deficit significantly expanded to $3.7 billion in the first 20 days, compared to $488 million in the same period last month.
This growth is a positive sign that world trade is beginning to resume its expansion process after the global economic slowdown. As the "canary" of the global economy, South Korea released its export data earlier than many economies, and due to its crucial position in the global supply chain and technology fields, its export data is closely monitored by global investors to understand the trends of world trade as soon as possible.
Given that the South Korean economy heavily relies on external demand to drive growth, this growth is also an encouraging sign for the South Korean economy.
Policy makers in Seoul have expressed in recent months their hope that South Korea's exports for the entire month will return to year-on-year growth by the end of this year. If, as shown in the preliminary data for October, this will support stronger economic growth data.
