Last Year's Exports 'Record High'... 15 Consecutive Months of Export Growth (Update)

Ministry of Industry, 2024 Annual and December Export-Import Trends
Last Year's Export Value $683.8 Billion... Up 8.2%
Global Export Ranking 2023: 8th → 2024: 6th

Last year, exports reached $683.8 billion, achieving the highest performance ever. The export growth trend continued for 15 consecutive months, and the trade surplus streak extended to 19 months.

On the 1st, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the '2024 Annual and December Export-Import Trends' containing these details.

Cargo is stacked on a container ship docked at Busan Port. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Exports in 2024 amounted to $683.8 billion, an 8.2% increase compared to the previous year. Surpassing the $683.6 billion record set in 2022 after two years, it achieved the highest performance ever. The daily average export also exceeded the previous record of $2.51 billion in 2022, reaching $2.53 billion (8.2%).

Accordingly, based on January to September 2024 data (WTO), the global export ranking rose two places from 8th in 2023 to 6th. Among the top 10 exporting countries, it recorded the highest export growth rate of 9.6%.

Last year, imports decreased overall by 1.6% to $632 billion due to a reduction in energy imports. The trade balance improved by $62.1 billion from the previous year, resulting in a $51.8 billion surplus, the largest surplus since 2018 ($69.7 billion surplus).

In 2022, high oil prices persisted, leading to record-high combined exports of petroleum products and petrochemicals. However, energy imports surged significantly, causing the trade deficit to reach a record high of $47.8 billion despite the record exports. In 2024, unlike 2022, oil prices stabilized downward, and key items such as semiconductors and other IT products, ships and automobiles, as well as consumer goods like biohealth, agricultural and marine products, and cosmetics, showed balanced strong performance, resulting in both record-high export performance and a trade surplus.

Exports in December last year increased by 6.6% year-on-year to $61.4 billion, imports rose by 3.3% to $54.9 billion, and the trade balance recorded a surplus of $6.5 billion.

Exports in December reached a record high of $61.4 billion, continuing the positive export trend for 15 consecutive months. The daily average export also set a new December record at $2.67 billion (4.3%).

December imports increased by 3.3% year-on-year to $54.9 billion. Energy imports were $10.6 billion, down 22.8%, while non-energy imports ($44.3 billion) rose by 12.4%. The trade balance recorded a $6.5 billion surplus, up $2 billion from the same month last year, marking 19 consecutive months of surplus.