SEOUL, November 10 (AJP) -South Korea’s exports hit an all-time high in the third quarter, while trade reliance on the country’s top 10 exporters also reached a record level, underscoring the economy’s growing exposure to the volatile semiconductor sector as chips accounted for one quarter of outbound shipments, government data showed Monday.
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, exports totaled $185 billion in the July–September period, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier and accelerating from the 2.1 percent gain in the second quarter.
The mining and manufacturing sector posted exports of $159.5 billion, an 8 percent increase, largely driven by a 26.6 percent surge in semiconductor exports to $46.4 billion. Chips accounted for 25.1 percent of total shipments, up from 21.1 percent a year ago.
Reliance on major exporters also deepened. The top 10 exporters shipped $74 billion worth of goods, representing 40 percent of total trade. SK hynix, enjoying a streak of strong earnings on the back of high-bandwidth and server memory demand for AI and data-center chips, saw its share of total exports jump to 8.4 percent from 6 percent a year earlier.
Large companies reported record exports of $122.3 billion, up 5.1 percent. Smaller players also made strides on the external front. Mid-sized firms also reached a fresh high with a 7 percent rise to $32.3 billion. Exports by small firms climbed 11.9 percent to $29.8 billion, the fourth-largest quarterly performance on record.
Imports rose 1.5 percent to $162.4 billion in the third quarter. Imports by large firms slipped 0.9 percent to $94.9 billion, while mid-sized and small firms saw increases of 4.6 percent and 8.5 percent to $28.4 billion and $37.4 billion, respectively. Petrochemical exports and imports weakened as the sector continued to struggle against intensifying competition from Chinese rivals.
Exports to the United States fell 3.9 percent in the third quarter, while imports from the U.S. were down 6.7 percent amid delays in settling a bilateral trade agreement.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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