South Korea's exports this year surpassed last year's full-year record in just eight months and five days, reaching an all-time high. At this pace, annual exports are expected to top $1 trillion in early December, lifting the country into the world's top four exporters.
Cumulative exports reached $709.4 billion as of 1 p.m. on the 5th, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Customs Service on the 6th. That matched last year's full-year total of $709.3 billion in 248 days. Monthly exports topped $100 billion for the first time in June, and shipments came close to that mark again in July at $99 billion and in August at $98.3 billion despite the summer holiday season.
A semiconductor boom is driving the gains. Chip exports totaled $281.2 billion in the January-August period, up 169.6% from a year earlier. The eight-month figure is 60% larger than last year's full-year total of $175.3 billion. Semiconductors now account for 40.6% of total exports.
Exports of computer peripherals, which tend to move in tandem with chip shipments, jumped 3.6-fold. Petroleum products rose 40.7%, wireless communication devices 28.1% and ships 12.4% from a year earlier. As a result, monthly exports set record highs for each month from January through August. Monthly exports averaged $88.66 billion this year, up about 50% from $59.1 billion last year.
Analysts said the country now has a shot not only at $1 trillion in annual exports but also at a place among the world's four largest exporters. Korea's cumulative exports totaled $496.1 billion in the first half, ranking sixth behind China, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Hong Kong, according to World Trade Organization merchandise trade statistics. The gap with fourth-ranked Netherlands, at $531.48 billion, was $35.38 billion — equivalent to only about eight or nine business days of Korean shipments.
Given that monthly exports climbed steadily from the $60 billion range in January to above $100 billion in June, a reversal appears well within reach in the second half. "The Netherlands and Hong Kong serve as logistics hubs for Europe and southern China, and a high share of their shipments is re-exported without any significant processing," a government official said. "In substance, Korea was effectively already the fourth-largest exporter in the first half."
