Korea posts trade surplus for 22nd straight month in Nov.

Korea posts trade surplus for 22nd straight month in Nov.. December. 16, 2011 01:55. constant25@donga.com.

Korea posted a trade surplus last month for the 22nd consecutive month with 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, but trade with the European Union suffered a deficit of 380 million dollars due to the eurozone fiscal crisis.

According to November export and import data released Thursday by the Korea Customs Service, exports last month grew by 12.7 percent year-on-year to 46.5 billion dollars and imports rose 11.1 percent to 43 billion dollars. The accumulated export volume for the first 11 months this year was 508.1 billion dollars, up 20.3 percent from the same period last year, and the corresponding figure for imports was 478.8 billion dollars, up 24.3 percent.

This year`s trade surplus declined, however, from 37.1 billion dollars last year to 29.3 billion dollars. Despite this, Korea opened the era of 1 trillion dollars with its trade volume exceeding the mark on Nov. 5.

Exports of petroleum products jumped 46 percent, those of cars grew by 30 percent, and those of steel gained 18.2 percent last month. Those of IT devices fell 23.3 percent, however, and those of wireless communications devices, semiconductors and liquid crystal devices declined as well.

Imports of grain grew the most at 44 percent, followed by those of oil at 24.6 percent. By contrast, inbound shipments of electric and electronics goods dipped 1.2 percent but those of semiconductors suffered the largest fall of 6.2 percent.

Exports to major trading partners continued to grow such as Japan (26.7 percent), the U.S. (21.2 percent), China (6 percent), and Southeast Asia (21.2 percent). Trade with the EU dipped into negative territory for the first time since July, with exports to the region recording 4.03 billion dollars and imports 4.41 billion dollars.

Exports to the EU contracted 5.1 percent last month followed by a drop of 20.35 percent in October due to a fall in orders for ships and petroleum products. By contrast, imports from the region jumped 20.7 percent due to purchases of European aircraft.