South Korea's monthly exports topped $120 billion for the first time in September, driven by surging demand and rising prices in the semiconductor supercycle. Cumulative exports this year have passed $800 billion, prompting forecasts that the country could reach $1 trillion as early as November.
Exports came to $120.94 billion last month, up 83.5% from a year earlier, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on the 1st. It was the first time monthly exports exceeded $120 billion, surpassing the previous record of $102 billion set in June.
Average daily exports, adjusted for the number of working days, rose 104.9% from a year earlier to $5.63 billion. That was also the first time the daily average topped $5 billion. Exports kept growing even though the Chuseok holiday reduced the number of working days.
Cumulative exports for January through September reached $814.5 billion, far exceeding the $709.3 billion recorded for all of last year, the previous annual high.
Semiconductor exports surged 262.8% from September last year to $60.3 billion, breaking through $60 billion for the first time. That was $13.6 billion more than the previous record of $46.7 billion set in August. Chips accounted for 49.9% of total exports.
The semiconductor sector stayed strong as rising memory demand, larger export volumes and higher fixed prices converged. The price of 16-gigabit DDR5 chips climbed to $48 in September from $37.5 in May, while 128-gigabit NAND flash rose to $30.6 from $26.5 over the same period.
As a result, memory chip exports jumped 358.6% to $54.07 billion in September from $11.79 billion a year earlier. System chip exports rose 28.8% to $5.54 billion from $4.3 billion over the same period.
Imports in September rose 26.0% from a year earlier to $71.09 billion. The trade surplus came to $49.85 billion, topping $40 billion for the first time.
Korea needs another $185.5 billion to reach $1 trillion in annual exports, which would require monthly exports averaging about $61.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Should it cross that threshold, Korea would become the fourth country in the world to do so, after the United States, China and Germany.
"Reaching $1 trillion is highly likely, and interest in the timing has grown," said Kang Gam-chan, head of the trade and investment office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "If we keep hitting $100 billion in about two of the remaining three months, we hope it can be achieved in late November or early December."
