S.Korea Dec exports climb for 14th month, wrap up record 2017
SEOUL (Reuters) — Soaring global demand for memory chips and petrochemicals helped South Korea's exports surge 8.9% in December, lifting its 2017 shipments to the highest on record in value terms.
Exports for the year as a whole jumped $573.9 B or 15.8%, data showed on Monday, making last year the best since relevant data began to be compiled in 1956.
The government is expecting still-solid but more modest export growth of 4% this year. With the economy riding the global trade boom, South Korea's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in more than 6 yr in November.
"Downside risks for South Korea are the won's strength, rising interest rates and oil prices. They are the new three risks," trade minister Paik Un-gyu said in a statement.
A further wild cards will be trade talks with the United States, which is keen to revise a 2012 deal to reduce its trade deficit with South Korea. Talks will begin on Jan. 5.
December's 8.9% expansion slightly underperformed the 10.3% growth forecast by economists in a Reuters poll and eased from 9.5% in November.
But six of the nation's major export products, including semiconductors, petrochemical products, computers posted double-digit expansion from a year earlier, even as the month had two fewer working days than in December 2016.
Imports jumped 13% December from a year earlier, beating the 12.1% expansion seen in the survey and 12.7% in the previous month.
South Korea's stellar export performance comes even as the won's strong gains have been making its goods more expensive for global consumers.
The won appreciated 13% against the US dollar last year, ending 2017 at a 32-mon high of 1,074.1.
For the whole of 2017, exports to China jumped 14.2%, while those to the United States and European Union expanded 3.2% 16%, respectively.
Shipments of memory chips jumped 57.4% last year, while petrochemical goods grew 31.7%.
Imports rose 17.7% in 2017, supported by an increase in equipment needed to produce memory chips and display products, the trade ministry said.
Reporting by Cynthia Kim and Dahee Kim; Editing by Kim Coghill
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