Roundup: S.Korea's exports extends longest monthly fall to 16 months

South Korea's exports posted a double-digit decline last month, keeping the longest monthly fall for 16 straight months, a government report showed on Sunday.

Exports, which account for about half of the economy, slumped 11.2 percent over a year earlier to 41 billion U.S. dollars in April, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The falling pace slowed down from 18.9 percent in January to 12.2 percent in February and 8.1 percent in March each, but it resumed the double-digit reduction in just two months.

It marked the country's longest monthly slide in exports for 16 months in a row, topping the previous high of 13 months tallied from March 2001 to March 2002.

Trade surplus reached 8.8 billion dollars in April, having stayed in the black for the 51st consecutive month from February 2012 thanks to faster fall imports than exports.

Imports plunged 14.9 percent from a year earlier to 32.2 billion dollars in April. Both exports and imports declined for 16 straight months.

The ministry attributed the sagging exports to global economic slump, cheaper crude oil and low product prices. Price falls in oil products, petrochemicals, chip and flat panels pulled down overall exports by 4.5 percentage points.

A fall in working days by 1.5 days compared with a year earlier contributed to the double-digit reduction, dragging down the exports by 6.2 percentage points. Delayed delivery of five ships also pulled down the April exports by 3 percentage points.

Excluding temporary factors such as lower business days, daily exports averaged 1.82 billion dollars in April, posting the highest in five months. The ministry said the April exports result wasn't worse than expected in consideration of the temporary factors.

In terms of volume, exports increased 5.5 percent in April from a year earlier, turning around from a 1.9 percent fall in March.

By item, ship exports jumped 25.2 percent, posting the first increase in five months due to orders of 32 ships, including two offshore plants. The ship exports had maintained a sharp downward trend by posting falls of 32.6 percent in December last year to 28.8 percent in March.

Telecommunication devices, including smartphones, saw exports increase 3.2 percent due to strong demand for newly launched products such as Samsung's S7 and LG's G5. It was the third consecutive month of expansion.

OLED exports surged 26.4 percent, with cosmetics shipment jumping 34.4 percent. But, solid state drive (SSD) exports tumbled 37.5 percent.

Other export items declined last month, with those for semiconductors and display panels tumbling 11.5 percent and 26.3 percent respectively due to lower product prices caused by oversupply. Auto exports plunged 18.3 percent on economic slowdown in emerging economies, and auto parts shipment retreated 15.4 percent.

Exports of consumer electronics, textile products and general machinery shrank 25.7 percent, 10.3 percent and 15.6 percent respectively on a yearly basis.

By region, exports to China, South Korea's largest trading partner, declined 18.4 percent in April from a year earlier. Shipments to the United States reduced 6.6 percent, and those to the Middle East and Latin American countries also tumbled 27.6 percent and 39.7 percent respectively. Exports to Japan sank 25.5 percent.

Imports of raw materials dipped 22.6 percent on lower commodity prices. Capital goods imports shed 3.9 percent, but consumer goods imports gained 2.2 percent. Endit