SEOUL, March 03 (AJP) - South Korea’s average daily exports fell nearly 6 percent in February compared with a year earlier, bringing total exports for the first two months of the year down by more than 4 percent.
Semiconductor shipments, which account for about 20 percent of South Korea’s total exports, posted their first decline in 16 months. The downturn has raised concerns about the country’s economic outlook, particularly as the auto sector — South Korea’s second-largest export industry — faces potential headwinds from U.S. tariffs.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Sunday, South Korea’s total exports in February reached $52.6 billion, a 1 percent increase from a year earlier.
While January saw a decline, ending a 16-month streak of export growth, February’s rebound was muted. When adjusted for the number of working days, average daily exports stood at $2.39 billion, down 5.9 percent from the previous year.
For the first two months of 2025, cumulative exports totaled $101.73 billion, a 4.75 percent drop from the same period in 2024.
Exports to South Korea’s two largest trading partners, China and the United States, remained weak.
Shipments to China fell 1.4 percent year-over-year to $9.5 billion, while exports to the United States edged up 1 percent to $9.9 billion. The decline in exports to China was largely driven by weakening semiconductor sales.
Semiconductors, South Korea’s top export category, totaled approximately $9.6 billion in February, a 3 percent drop from the previous year. It was the first contraction in chip exports in 16 months.
Shipments to China, which account for the largest share of South Korea’s semiconductor exports, plunged 15.3 percent year-over-year to $2.52 billion.
A ministry official attributed the slump to falling prices of general-purpose memory chips, despite steady demand for high-value semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications.
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