South Korea Exports Post Biggest Drop in Three Years

South Korea’s exports last month hit the largest year-on-year decline in more than three years.

On Tuesday (August 1), local time, the "Import and Export Trends in July" released by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy of South Korea showed that the country's exports in July were $50.33 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 16.5%, the largest decline since May 2020.

So far, South Korea's exports have declined year-on-year for the 10th consecutive month, the longest decline after December 2018 to January 2020.

But it needs to be pointed out that one of the reasons for the sharp year-on-year decline is due to South Korea's exports hitting a record in July last year.

Due to the price reduction of energy and raw materials, South Korea's import volume in July recorded $48.71 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 25.4%, which also exceeded market expectations.

This made South Korea's trade account a surplus of $1.63 billion in July, maintaining a surplus for the second consecutive month.