SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s exports for the first 20 days of February fell 2.3% from the same period a year before, customs agency data showed on Tuesday.
The country’s imports rose 9.3%, however, bringing the trade balance for the period to a deficit of $5.99 billion.
By destination, shipments to China dropped 22.7%, outweighing 29.3% and 18.0% gains for U.S. and EU-bound shipments, respectively. By product, semiconductor sales fell 43.9%, although cars rose 56.6%.
On average per working day, exports fell 14.9%. There were two more working days than a year before, due to the timing difference in Lunar New Year holidays.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
