SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s exports fell for an eighth straight month in May in annual terms, data showed on Thursday, although by less than expected.
Overseas sales by Asia’s fourth-largest economy fell 15.2% year-on-year to $52.24 billion in May, the trade ministry data showed, compared with a drop of 14.3% in April and a 16.8% decline tipped in a Reuters survey.
The down streak is the longest run of year-on-year losses since January 2020.
Imports fell 14.0% to $54.34 billion in May, faster than the 13.3% fall seen in April and the fastest since August 2020. Economists had expected a 14.5% decline in the survey.
As a result, the country posted a trade deficit of $2.10 billion in May, the 15th month in a row the export-reliant economy has suffered a trade deficit.
(This story has been refiled to remove extraneous words ‘the’ and ‘was’ in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Ed Davies and Tom Hogue)
