S. Korea's exports reduce 8.3 percent in September

South Korea's exports reduced 8.3 percent in September from a year earlier, keeping a downward trend for nine straight months, a government report showed on Thursday.

Exports, which account for about half of the economy, declined 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 43.51 billion U.S. dollars in September, after tumbling 14.7 percent in the prior month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Imports plunged 21.8 percent on-year to 34.56 billion dollars in September. Both exports and imports maintained the downward trend for nine months in a row.

Helped by faster decline in imports than exports, trade surplus reached 8.94 billion dollars in September, staying in the black for 44 months since February 2012. Endi