BloombergA decline in South Korean exports worsened last month, despite signs of green shoots in global trade as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days at the end of the month. Exports shrank 6.1 percent from a year earlier, following a 5.2 percent drop in December, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s data showed on Saturday. Shipments of semiconductors, the country’s biggest export, contracted 3.4 percent, the smallest decrease since an 8.4 percent drop in December 2018. Exports to China, South Korea’s biggest trade partner, declined 10.5 percent, while shipments to the US fell 7 percent and those to Japan were down 6.4 percent. The economy grew 2 percent last year, the slowest pace since the global financial crisis, but momentum improved in the fourth quarter.

Source: Taipei Times February 02, 2020 15:56 UTC