Korea’s exports up 55.6% during first 10 days of March on robust chip demand

SEOUL,11th March, 2026 (WAM) — South Korea’s exports jumped 55.6% from a year earlier in the first 10 days of March, driven by strong overseas demand for semiconductors, data showed Wednesday.

Outbound shipments reached US$21.5 billion in the March 1-10 period, compared with $13.8 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

It marked the country’s largest exports recorded for the cited period.

Imports went up 21.7% on-year to $19.4 billion during the period, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.1 billion, the data showed as quoted by Yonhap News Agency.

By item, exports of semiconductors surged 175.9% on-year to a record high of $7.6 billion amid the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

The figure marked the highest amount ever recorded for the first 10 days of a month, far exceeding the previous record of $6.7 billion set last month.

Chip exports accounted for 35.3% of the country’s total exports over the cited period, up 15.4 percentage points from the same period last year.

Exports of petroleum products jumped 44.1% to $1.4 billion.

But automobile exports went down 13.9% on-year to $1.4 billion, while shipments of vessels dipped 61.9 percent to $465 million.

By destination, exports to China, South Korea’s top trading partner, soared 91.2% on-year to $5.1 billion.

Shipments to the United States jumped 69.9% to $4.2 billion despite the tariff scheme by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, the data showed.