Seoul: South Korea's exports fell 5.9% last year from a year earlier due largely to a drop in global demand and weak oil prices, government data showed yesterday.
The country's exports reached $495.5bn in 2016, while its imports dropped 7.1 percent on-year to $405.7bn, according to the data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. Its trade surplus stood at $89.8bn last year, down slightly from $90.3bn tallied in 2015, the data showed. It is the first time in 58 years that South Korea's exports finished in negative terrain two years in a row.
The country's exports had been in a deep slump for the 19th consecutive month since January 2015, but they started to show some signs of recovery in November when they logged a 2.5 percent gain.
All key exporting items except for personal computers posted minus growth in exports last year, hit hard by the global economic downturn. During the October-December period, exports rose 1.9 percent on-year, making the first plus figure in two years on the back of a 10.7 percent gain in chips and a 3.4 percent rise in steel.
In December, meanwhile, Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its outbound shipments jump 6.4 percent on-year to $45.1bn, marking the second straight positive monthly figure for the first time in 26 months.
Imports also rose 7.3 percent on-year to $38.1bn last month, with a trade surplus coming in at $7bn. Daily exports rose 4.2 percent on-year to reach $1.75bn last month, marking the first plus figure in 22 months.
Exports to China gained 9.6 percent to a 14-month high of $12bn last month, following a 0.4 percent gain in November, on economic recovery in the world's second-largest economy.
For next year, the trade ministry forecast that South Korea's exports will rise 2.9 % on the back of a global economic recovery and rising demand for key items such as flat screens and chips. Imports will likely expand 7.2 % next year, with a trade surplus reaching $74bn.
