Cumulative Exports Reach $508.7 Billion This Year... "Positive Trend Will Continue"

Export Trend Review Meeting

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that on the 22nd, under the chairmanship of First Vice Minister Park Seong-taek, a meeting was held to review export trends, checking the export status of major items and discussing measures to expand exports.

Korea's exports have maintained a positive trend every month for the past year since rebounding in October last year. Accordingly, the cumulative export amount from January to September this year recorded $508.7 billion, an increase of 9.6% compared to the previous year. The trade balance has shown a surplus trend for 16 consecutive months since turning positive in June last year. The cumulative surplus this year reached $36.8 billion, the largest scale since 2018 (a surplus of $54.4 billion).

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By major items, semiconductor exports, the largest export item, recorded $102.4 billion for the cumulative period from January to September 2024, an increase of 48.1% compared to the previous year, centered on high value-added products such as Double Data Rate (DDR) 5 and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). At this point before the fourth quarter, it has already surpassed last year's total export performance of $98.6 billion. Automobile exports, the second largest export item, also set a new record for the highest export performance this year with $52.9 billion in cumulative terms, following last year's $52.1 billion.

Vice Minister Park emphasized, "Despite the uncertainties in the global economy, our exports continue to maintain a steady upward trend," adding, "Due to the full-scale rebound in exports since the fourth quarter of last year, the growth rate of exports in the fourth quarter this year may slow somewhat compared to the first to third quarters, but the positive export trend is expected to continue in the fourth quarter as well." He continued, "The government must accelerate efforts until the end to achieve the highest export record this year, taking advantage of the 'Export Boom-up Korea Week' that has been in operation since last week."