The trade balance turned to surplus for the primary time in 16 months. Exports continued to say no, however the rate of decline hit the bottom point this 12 months.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Lee Chang-yang) announced on the first that exports in June 2023 decreased by 6.0% year-on-year to $54.24 billion, imports decreased by 11.7% to $53.11 billion, and the trade balance recorded a surplus of $1.13 billion.

Exports in June declined attributable to the delayed recovery of the semiconductor industry and the negative base effect from June last 12 months, when exports recorded the best performance ($57.7 billion) as of June of last 12 months.

Nonetheless, the speed of decline in exports is the bottom this 12 months. The monthly export decline rate this 12 months was 16.4% in January, 7.7% in February, 13.8% in March, 14.4% in April, 15.2% in May, and 6.0% in June.

By item, exports of semiconductors (-28.0%), petroleum products (-40.9%) and petrochemicals (-22.0%) decreased in June. Nonetheless, semiconductors, the most important export item, recorded the best export amount (US$8.9 billion) this 12 months.

Exports of seven items, including automobiles (58.3%), general machinery (8.1%), ships (98.6%), and secondary batteries (16.3%), increased. It recorded the best export performance within the half 12 months.

Exports to China improved barely. It exceeded $10 billion for 2 consecutive months, following $10.6 billion in May and $10.5 billion in June. The speed of decrease in exports to China was 19.0%, barely lower than the previous month’s 21.1%.

The trade balance has returned to the excess in 16 months since February 2022. Since recording a deficit of $12.54 billion in January, the deficit has been steadily shrinking, eventually ending the deficit trend.

The federal government said, “We are going to proceed the trend of trade surplus and speed up efforts to expand energy savings and improve efficiency together with efforts to expand exports in order that we will achieve a positive export turnaround within the second half of the 12 months.”

“With a view to expand exports, we are going to resolve difficulties in the sphere and significantly increase export marketing support centering on the 30 promising export items, while promoting customized export company support for small and medium-sized enterprises experiencing difficulties in exporting to realize 100,000 export corporations. planned,” he said.

Reporter Lim Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com