South Korean government data showed on Monday that the country ran a trade deficit for the fourth consecutive month in July due to higher global energy prices, despite a rise in global energy prices.
Its exports increased by 9.4% year-on-year due to strong demand for chips.
According to data compiled by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the country’s exports were valued at $60.7 billion last month, up from $55.5 billion a year ago, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
It is the highest tally for any July month since 1956 when the ministry began compiling relevant data. The previous record was a year ago.
But the country posted a trade deficit of $4.67 billion last month, as imports jumped 21.8 percent on-year to $65.37 billion as global energy prices soared.
Imports have exceeded exports in South Korea since April, the first time since 2008 that the country has run a trade deficit for four consecutive months.
(function(P,o,s,t,Q,r,e){P[‘RecsWidgetObject’]=Q;P[Q]=P[Q]||function(){
(P[Q].q=P[Q].q||[]).push(arguments)},P[Q].l=1*new Date();r=o.createElement(s),
e=o.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];r.async=1;r.src=t;e.parentNode.insertBefore(r,e) })(
window,document,’script’,’//widget.postquare.com/_widget_loader.js’,’__posWidget’);
__posWidget(‘createWidget’,{wwei:’POSTQUARE_WIDGET_122394′,pubid: 165709,webid:171079,wid:122394,on:’postquare’});