S. Korea's trade surplus posts 2.12 bln USD in April

Seoul, May 15 (Xinhua-ANI): South Korea posted a trade surplus of 2.12 billion U.S. dollars in April despite weak exports that were offset by falling imports, customs office data showed Tuesday.

According to the report by the Korea Customs Service (KCS), the country's trade surplus reached 2.12 billion dollars in April, slightly down from a preliminary figure of 2.15 billion dollar surplus estimated earlier by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

Exports, which account for around half of the South Korean economy, declined 4.8 percent on-year to 46.2 billion dollars in April, while imports edged down 0.2 percent to 44.1 billion dollars.

By items, outbound shipments of automobiles, steel products and machinery expanded 12.9 percent, 4.7 percent and 3.1 percent respectively on-year in April, but exports of ships and electronics plunged 24.2 percent and 8.3 percent each over the cited period.

Exports to Europe decreased last month due to the remaining European fiscal crisis and economic slowdown in the region. Outbound shipments to the European Union (EU) and Japan tumbled 20. 7 percent and 22.8 percent each on-year in April, but exports to the United States and the Middle East grew 4.3 percent and 24.7 percent respectively.

Imports of grain and consumer goods contracted 6.8 percent and 2.7 percent each on-year in April, but inbound shipments of raw materials and capital goods were unchanged last month from a year before.

For the first four months of this year, exports reached 181.1 billion dollars, up 0.9 percent from the same period of last year. Imports expanded 5.5 percent to 177.4 billion dollars over the cited period, sending the trade surplus to 3.6 billion dollars. (Xinhua-ANI)