Roundup: S. Korea's exports grow for 16 months to February on demand for chips, ships

SEOUL, March 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports, which account for about half of the export-driven economy, grew for 16 months through February on the continued demand for semiconductors and a surge in orders to build ships, a government report showed Thursday.

Exports rose 4.0 percent from a year earlier to 44.88 billion U.S. dollars in February, keeping an upward trend since November 2016, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Despite the continued export expansion, the growth rate was down from 22.3 percent in January as the number of working days was reduced by 2.5 days due to the Lunar New Year's holidays that fell on February this year.

Excluding the working-day effect, a daily average export was 2.3 billion dollars in February, bigger than any February figure in history.

Imports advanced 14.8 percent over the year to 41.57 billion dollars in February, sending the trade surplus to 3.31 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in the black for 73 months in a row.

South Korea's exports kept rising amid the global economic recovery. Robust demand lasted for locally-made chips, of which export jumped 40.8 percent in February from a year earlier.

Helped by a surge in orders to build ships, vessel exports soared 40.3 percent, with those for computers advancing 29.5 percent. Oil product shipments posted a double-digit increase amid higher product price.

Exports for semiconductors and computers posted the biggest-ever February figure in history, continuing to expand for 17 months and 11 months in a row respectively. Petrochemical exports maintained an upward trend for the 17th consecutive month on higher product price.

Shipments for general machinery, automobiles, display panels and consumer electronics dipped last month due to various factors such as fiercer competition, weak demand and an expanded production in overseas factories.

As for high value-added products, exports of multi-chip integrated circuits surged 74.2 percent in February from a year ago amid a rising trend of large data usage for electronic devices.

Those for solid state drive (SSD), seen as a next-generation storage device, jumped 65.2 percent last month on its broader use for newly launched electronic devices.

By region, exports to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, rose 3.7 percent to 11.53 billion dollars. It marked the continued growth for 16 straight months through February.

Exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India gained 4.9 percent and 2.9 percent each, with those to Japan jumping 21.6 percent to 2.49 billion dollars.

However, exports to the United States dropped 10.7 percent on lackluster demand for major South Korean products such as cars, smartphones and textiles.

Auto exports to the United States tumbled 48.9 percent, with auto parts shipment declining 17.3 percent. Exports of telecommunication devices, including smartphones, more than halved in the world's biggest economy.

South Korea's surplus in trade with the United States was 360 million dollars in February, down 76.9 percent from a year earlier.

The trade surplus with the United States was forecast to fall further as the U.S. government announced a plan last month to impose high import tariffs on steel and aluminum products from countries, including South Korea.

The Trump administration decided in January to slap safeguards against washing machines and solar cell modules from countries, including South Korea, by levying high import tariffs on them.

Negotiations were underway between South Korea and the United States to amend the bilateral free trade pact as U.S. President Donald Trump called it a "horrible" deal. The KORUS free trade agreement (FTA) took effect in 2012. Enditem