S.Korea's trade surplus in parts, materials hit record high in H1

South Korea's trade surplus in industrial parts and materials hit a record high in the first half of this year amid the record-low dependence on Japan for imports, a government report showed Wednesday.

Trade surplus in the parts and materials sector amounted to 53. 3 billion U.S. dollars in the first half, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It was the largest among all first-half figures in history.

Exports in the sector rose 0.8 percent from a year earlier to 134.2 billion dollars in the first half, but imports fell 2.6 percent to 80.9 billion dollars.

The figures were relatively upbeat as both exports and imports for overall industries declined 5.0 percent and 15.6 percent each in the first half on the back of global economic slump, cheap oil and the weak Japanese yen.

The portion of parts and materials to overall exports kept rising from 46 percent in 2011 to 48.2 percent in 2014 and 49.9 percent in the first half of 2015.

Dependence on Japan declined to the record low. South Korea imported 13.7 billion dollars of parts and materials from Japan, while exporting 6.2 billion dollars of industrial components.

South Korea's trade deficit with Japan in the industrial parts sector was 7.5 billion dollars in the first half, but the deficit continued to decline.

The country's dependence on Japan for imports of industrial parts and materials slid to a fresh record low of 16.9 percent in the first half, after posting 21 percent in the first half of 2013 and 18.1 percent in the first half of 2014.

Parts and materials exports to China, South Korea's largest trading partner, were 46.7 billion dollars in the first half, taking up about a third of the total. Endi