Exports up 3.8% during first 10 days of Sept.; US shipments fall amid tariffs

Containers are stacked at a port in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, Sept. 4. Yonhap

Korea's exports went up 3.8 percent from a year earlier in the first 10 days of September on solid demand for semiconductors and vessels, data showed Thursday.

Outbound shipments reached $19.2 billion in the Sept. 1-10 period, compared with $18.5 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

However, the daily average volume of exports decreased 8.7 percent on-year over the cited period. The number of working days during this period stood at 8.5, compared with 7.5 days a year earlier.

Imports jumped 11.1 percent on-year to $20.4 billion during the period, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.2 billion.

By item, exports of semiconductors surged 28.4 percent from a year earlier to $4.45 billion. Chip exports accounted for 23.2 percent of the country's total exports over the cited period, up 4.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

Vessel exports skyrocketed 55.3 percent on-year to $900 million, the agency said.

By destination, exports to the United States fell 8.2 percent to $2.96 billion amid tariff measures by President Donald Trump's administration.

Meanwhile, exports to China, Korea's top trading partner, edged up 0.1 percent to $3.92 billion.

In August, exports grew 1.3 percent from a year earlier to $58.4 billion on the back of robust global demand for semiconductors, despite the tariff scheme of the Trump administration.