SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export fell last month on less business days, caused by the four-day Chuseok holiday, the country's Thanksgiving Day, a government report showed Monday.
Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, shrank 8.2 percent from a year earlier to 50.58 billion U.S. dollars in September, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The export turned downward after growing in the previous month, but it topped 50 billion dollars for five months in a row.
During the January-September period, the export reached a new high of 450.4 billion dollars, up 4.7 percent from a year ago.
Import reduced 2.1 percent over the year to 40.84 billion dollars in September, sending last month's trade surplus to 9.74 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in the black for 80 straight months.
