Trade surplus reaches $5.82 bil. in April

Korea's trade surplus surged to $5.82 billion in April up sharply from US$2.78 billion the previous month on the strength of record-high exports, a government report showed Sunday.

April marks the 15th straight month that the country has posted a favorable balance. Exports rose 26.6 percent on-year to a monthly high of $49.77 billion last month, with imports rising 23.7 percent to $43.95 billion, according to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

Outbound shipments surpassed the previous high of $48.07 billion tallied in March, with the daily export average topping an all-time high of $2.12 billion during the month, exceeding the previous record of $2.03 billion set in February.

"The record-high export numbers were the result of local companies doing well in key areas such as petroleum products, ships and autos," said An Byung-hwa, head of the ministry's export-import division.

He said petroleum product exports were helped by higher crude oil prices with numbers for ships going up because domestic yards were able to hand over high value-added vessels to foreign shipping lines.

Petroleum product exports reached $4.9 billion last month from $4.4 billion in March with outbound shipment for ships topping $6.4 billion from $5.4 billion.

According to the report, exports of petroleum products and ships surged 79.8 percent and 56.1 percent, respectively, with autos and mobile communications equipment expanding by 20-30 percent levels compared to the year before. Outbound shipments of steel rose by 19.9 percent on-year although semiconductors contracted 0.4 percent mainly because unit costs have fallen from the year before.

"Of the 13 major industrial products that are shipped abroad, nine grew by double digits, with consumer electronics growing by a single digit and three losing ground on an annual basis," An said.

By country, shipments to Japan, which was hit hard by the massive earthquake on March 11, skyrocketed 70.1 percent with growth rates reaching 44.3 percent for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and 23.0 percent for the United States. Exports to China, South Korea's largest overseas market, moved up 9.3 percent, while shipments to the European Union gained 7.7 percent.

South Korea's chronic trade deficit with Japan decreased to $1.54 billion last month from $2.22 billion tallied for April 2010 and $2.97 billion reached in March.

The latest findings showed imports going up mainly due to global prices of crude oil, coal and natural gas all moving up by double digits.

Imports of crude jumped 50.7 percent on-year to $8.5 billion with inbound shipments of coal and gas going up 29.6 percent and 11.5 percent each.

Consumer product imports rose by more than 35 percent, while numbers for capital goods, such as semiconductor manufacturing equipment, dropped 23.5 percent. Imports averaged $1.87 billion per day in April.

For the first four months of this year, South Korea posted a trade surplus of just under $13.83 billion with exports surging 29.0 percent to $181.07 billion and imports rising 25.1 percent to $167.24 billion.

For May, the ministry in charge of the country's industrial and trade promotion policy said Seoul may be able to maintain its monthly trade surplus despite a steady rise in crude oil imports and other energy related prices.

Earlier in the year, Seoul, which was the seventh-largest exporter in the world in 2010 and ninth largest trading nation, said it aims to pull off a favorable trade balance of around $25.0 billion down from a record high of $41.2 billion in 2010. (Yonhap)