SOUTH KOREA’S July exports fell at the fastest annual rate in three months to record a 19th straight month of declining exports, trade ministry data showed yesterday.

    All South Korea’s top 13 export industries saw declines in July. With the exception of computers, exports to key trade partners, notably China, the United States and the European Union, all fell.

    Exports of ships, also part of the top 13, had fallen 42.5 percent alone year on year, the trade ministry said.

    Exports to China, South Korea’s biggest trade partner, have fallen for more than a year as China restructures its economy and manufactures more products that South Korea previously supplied.

    A strike at Hyundai Motor Co., the world’s fifth-biggest carmaker, bit into July exports.

    Exports fell 10.2 percent year on year to US$41 billion while imports slumped 14 percent to US$33.3 billion. Exports posted the biggest fall since April this year.

    In June, exports and imports fell 2.7 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively. The trade surplus fell to US$7.8 billion in July from a revised US$11.5 billion surplus in June.

    Economists polled had expected a 4.6 percent drop in exports and a 9.5 percent fall in imports.

    South Korea is the first major exporting economy to report monthly trade data and is home to global suppliers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Inc.

    The average value of exports per working day was US$1.75 billion in July, less than a revised US$1.94 billion in June, calculations showed. July this year had 1.5 fewer working days than July 2015.

    The trade ministry said it saw little prospect of an improvement in exports anytime soon, and planned to expand financial aid to exporters, including loans and a cut in insurance costs.

    However, it still hoped for exports to rebound in August, a ministry official told a news conference.

    (SD-Agencies)