SEOUL, Feb 21: South Korean exports for the Feb. 1-20 period totalled $26.79 billion, customs data showed on Saturday, unchanged from a year earlier but a robust showing when considering holidays and weak oil prices. The three-day Lunar New Year holidays fell in February this year but in January last year, making much of South Korean economic indicators for either month vulnerable to distortions. Including January figures, South Korean exports for this year to Feb. 20 amounted to $72.02 billion, down 0.5 percent from the comparable period of 2014, the data from the Korea Customs Service showed.
South Korea has said its exports are faring well, excluding the effects of the plunge in global prices of oil and related products. Refined oil and petrochemical products account for nearly 20 percent of South Korea’s exports. Imports for the Feb. 1-20 period fell 16.3 percent on-year to $24.30 billion, the data showed.
South Korea will release foreign trade data for the whole of February on March 1, along with a breakdown of figures by destination and industry.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy and the world’s seventh-largest exporter is the first major trading powerhouse to publish foreign trade figures each month.
(AGENCIES)
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