SEOUL, June 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports kept rising in the June 1-10 period due mainly to strong demand for semiconductor and oil products, customs data showed Monday.
Exports, which account for about half of the economy, reached 12.4 billion U.S. dollars for the first 10 days of June, up 2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Customs Service.
The outbound shipments, which fell in April, rebounded in May by a double digit and maintained an upward trend for the first 10 days of this month.
Despite less business days in the June 1-10 period compared with the same period of last year, exports managed to grow thanks to robust demand for semiconductors and oil exports.
Chip exports jumped 28.9 percent, with those for oil products soaring 43.5 percent. Car exports surged 41.4 percent, but those for telecommunication devices, such as smartphone, declined 14.7 percent as local manufacturers raised production in overseas factories.
The daily average export, adjusted for the number of working days, amounted to 2.06 billion dollars in the June 1-10 period, up 19 percent from the same period of last year.
Imports rose 2.4 percent to 14 billion dollars in the cited period due to higher raw material prices. The trade balance posted a deficit of 1.58 billion dollars due to faster import growth than export.
