SOUTH KOREA CHIP EXPORTS SIZZLE
Shipments to US surge 23.2pc in Aug with exports rising 17.4pc from a year earlier to US$47.1b
BOOMING sales of memory chips and electronic displays last month took South Korea’s exports to their longest run of growth in almost six years, highlighting a nascent normalisation in global demand.
Shipments to the United States surged 23.2 per cent from a year earlier, supported by US demand for memory chips and machinery, potentially undermining South Korea’s position in the renegotiation of a free-trade agreement President Donald Trump has called “a horrible deal”.
“Sales of semiconductors continue to be star performer, here, and the most important thing to monitor is whether prices of memory chips hold up through the second half,” said Eugene Investment & Securities economist Lee Sang-jae.
“Exports growth will likely come down to single digit in November and December on base effect as exports improved towards the end of last year.”
South Korea is the first among major exporting countries to publish its monthly trade figures. Exports to China rose 15.6 per cent from a year earlier, posting the longest stretch of sales to its bigger neighbour since 2014, while shipments to the European Union surged 43.2 per cent.
Preliminary data showed last month’s exports rose 17.4 per cent from a year earlier to US$47.1 billion (RM201.12 billion), but imports surged 14.2 per cent to US$40.1 billion, said the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
This produced a US$7 billion trade surplus, down from the US$10.3 billion surplus in July. Last month’s exports beat a 14.3 per cent expansion seen in a Reuters survey and posted a double-digit growth for an eighth straight month, the longest expansion since September 2011, adding momentum to economic growth.
Exports of semiconductors posted record sales of US$8.76 billion last month, while OLED screens also marked record overseas sales of US$860 million in the month.
Separate data yesterday showed South Korea’s annual inflation surged to more than a five-year high of 2.6 per cent last month, versus 2.2 per cent in July. Reuters