According to the data released on August 3 by the Export and Import Division of South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy, in July the country's trade volume exceeded $60 billion for the first time since October 2008. Meanwhile, the national trade balance recorded a $5.1 billion surplus in July - the sixth consecutive month in which South Korea has registered a trade surplus.
Accordingly, in July South Korea's exports fell 20.1 percent year on year in value to $32.7 billion. During the first 20 days of July, exports to Latin America decreased by 39.2 percent, exports to the European Union fell by 35.8 percent, exports to the Middle East were down 23 percent, exports to China declined by 15.7 percent, exports to the United States decreased by 26.5 percent, exports to ASEAN countries were down 31.5 percent, exports to Japan declined by 32.6 percent and exports to Oceania fell by 3.8 percent, all compared to the same period of 2008.
Due to the low cost of oil and raw materials, the value of South Korea's imports slid 35.8 percent year on year to $27.6 billion. During the period in question, in terms of value crude oil imports decreased by 51.5 percent, petroleum product imports declined by 42.7 percent, and gas imports fell by 65.9 percent, compared to the same period of the previous year. Imports of capital and consumer goods also posted a decline.
On the other hand, according to the information provided by South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance on July 31, the country's industrial production index in June increased to 121.3 points, up 5.7 percent from the previous month, but decreased by 1.2 percent from the same month of the previous year.