S.Korea’s semiconductor exports rebound in 1st 10 days of November

South Korea’s semiconductor exports rose in the first 10 days of November, reversing their 13-month downward trend, data show, raising the prospect of a long-awaited recovery in the country’s largest export item market.

Exports of semiconductor products gained 1.3% in the November 1-10 period, compared to the same period of last year, according to the Korea Customs Service on Monday.

It marked the first on-year growth in South Korea's outbound semiconductor shipments in the first 10 days of a month, after a 7.9% increase in the same period of September 2022.

The Nov. 1-10 data reinforced expectations South Korea’s semiconductor exports for all of this month would break the 15-month slump since August of last year on a monthly basis.

“Exports of automobiles and general machinery remain strong. It is key whether semiconductor exports will rebound in (the entire month of) November,” said Cho Ik-noh, a senior trade official at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

There appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel in the semiconductor industry.

In October, semiconductor exports dipped at their smallest pace since August 2022, down 3.1% on-year.

Painting a positive outlook, Samsung said last month that the memory chip market is expected to recover next year, driven by the growing need for memory chips used to power generative AI and normalizing inventory levels at customers.

TRADE DEFICIT

The trade deficit narrowed to $1.7 billion in the first 10 days of this month, a significant reduction from the deficit of $5.4 billion in the same period last year.

So far this year, the accumulated trade deficit stood at $19.9 billion as of Nov. 10, after posting trade surpluses for the past five months through October.

Last year, South Korea racked up a $47.2 billion trade deficit, its largest-ever shortfall since 2008. 

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at Kkm1026@hankyung.com
 

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.