SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s export progress slowed for a fourth-straight month in November, to the weakest degree in 14 months, as shipments to the US and China fell amid tariff uncertainty, commerce information confirmed on Sunday.
Exports out of Asia’s fourth-largest economic system rose 1.4% in November from a 12 months earlier, after a acquire of 4.6% in October, to $56.35 billion.
It was the 14th-straight month exports rose in annual phrases however the slowest price for the sequence, additionally lacking a median forecast of a 2.8% enhance tipped in a Reuters ballot of economists.
Final month, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump pledged to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, which is predicted to have an effect on South Korean companies as effectively, and “an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs” on China, South Korea’s greatest buying and selling accomplice.
Shipments to the US fell 5.1%, their first decline since July 2023, whereas these to China had been down 0.6%, after eight consecutive months of features. Exports to the European Union had been up 0.9%.
Gross sales of semiconductors rose 30.8%, the weakest progress in 11 months, whereas automobile gross sales fell 13.6%, their greatest drop since June 2020, attributable to strikes at main auto elements makers and transport delays amid dangerous climate.
“The government will team up with the private sector and utilise all available resources to export even a dollar more by the end of the year,” mentioned Commerce Minister Ahn Duk-geun.
Imports fell 2.4% to $50.74 billion, in contrast with features of 1.7% within the earlier month and 0.4% anticipated by economists. It was the primary decline in 5 months.
The nation posted a commerce surplus of $5.61 billion in November, wider than a $3.15-billion surplus in October.
