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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World Economy -> 
South Korean exports top forecasts
    2020-01-02  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

SOUTH KOREAN exports fell in December year on year but less than expected, which, along with a turn to growth in shipments to China and a slowing pace of decline in chip sales, added to optimism for global trade.

Exports by Asia’s fourth-largest economy shrank 5.2 percent in the final month of 2019 from a year earlier, trade ministry data showed yesterday, just beating a median 6 percent fall tipped in a Reuters poll.

It was the slowest decline in exports since a 2.1 percent drop in April 2019 and almost half the average rate of decline seen for the past six months as the global prices of memory chips, the country’s top export item, showed signs of picking up.

Analysts said yesterday’s data supported their view that exports, the main engine of growth for South Korea’s economy, would turn to growth in early 2020 even though growth thereafter could stay low for a considerable period.

“Today’s data were positive in that recovery sustained and exports will return to growth from as soon as February, although the strength of recovery will really depend on how much China’s exports to the United States increase,” said Park Sang-hyun, chief economist at Hi Investment & Securities.

The brightest spot in the December data was a turn to growth of 3.3 percent in exports to China, the first growth in 14 months. China is South Korea’s top export market and takes in a quarter of the smaller neighbor’s total shipments abroad.

Overseas sales of semiconductors, the country’s top-selling item, which accounts for one-fifth of its total exports, fell 17.7 percent year on year, but it was the slowest decline in eight months as global prices are stabilizing after a plunge.

Imports dropped 0.7 percent in December from the year-earlier month, beating both a 13 percent loss in November and a 4.6 percent decline tipped in the Reuters survey. That brought the month’s trade balance to a US$2.02 billion surplus versus a US$3.34 billion profit in November.

South Korea, the world’s leading exporter of chips, smartphones, cars and ships, is the first major economy to report trade data each month, providing an early guide to the health of global trade.

(SD-Agencies)

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