Seoul: South Korea's export marked the first fall in four months owing to the negative effect of the U.S. tariffs imposition, government data showed Sunday.
Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, shrank 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 57.27 billion U.S. dollars in May, recording the first reduction since January, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Import dipped 5.3 percent to 50.33 billion dollars, sending the trade surplus to 6.94 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in black for the fourth consecutive month.
Of the country's 15 major export items, five products saw an increase in outbound shipment.
Semiconductor export soared 21.2 percent over the year to 13.79 billion dollars in May due to strong demand for high-end chips, including double data rate 5 (DDR5) and high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in generative artificial intelligence (AI) chipsets.
Mobile device shipment gained 3.9 percent to 1.30 billion dollars on robust demand for smartphones, but display panel export declined 18.0 percent to 1.34 billion dollars.
Computer export added 2.3 percent to 1.07 billion dollars on solid demand for solid state drives (SSD) for servers.
Automotive export retreated 4.4 percent to 6.20 billion dollars on lower demand for electric vehicles, and auto parts shipment decreased 9.4 percent to 1.66 billion dollars.
Export for ships mounted 4.3 percent to 2.23 billion dollars, but general machinery shipment diminished 5.3 percent to 4.06 billion dollars.
Export for oil products dived 20.9 percent to 3.58 billion dollars on the back of lower product price.
Global prices for gasoline and diesel went down 17.7 percent and 18.4 percent each in May on a yearly basis.
Petrochemical shipment dropped 20.8 percent to 3.24 billion dollars on the global supply glut and cheaper crude oil.
Steel product export shrank 12.4 percent to 2.56 billion dollars, and secondary battery shipment slipped 18.4 percent to 520 million dollars.
Export for home appliances and textiles slid in double digits to 610 million dollars and 850 million dollars.
Export to the United States retreated 8.1 percent over the year to 10.05 billion dollars in May, continuing to fall for the second straight month on lower demand for cars affected by the U.S. tariffs imposition.
Shipment to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) reduced 1.3 percent to 10.01 billion dollars owing to weaker demand for oil products and petrochemicals, but export to the European Union (EU) swelled 4.0 percent to 6.05 billion dollars.
Export to Japan, Latin America, India and the Middle East was down to 2.38 billion dollars, 2.21 billion dollars, 1.62 billion dollars and 1.38 billion dollars each.
Regarding import items, the import of three major energy sources, including crude oil, natural gas and coal, dropped 12.8 percent to 10.13 billion dollars last month.
Non-energy imports slipped 3.2 percent to 40.20 billion dollars on lower demand for mobile phones and auto parts.
