SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s export decline softened in August, beating market expectations, trade data showed on Friday.
Overseas sales by Asia’s fourth-largest economy fell 8.4% year-on-year to $51.87 billion in August, compared with a 16.4% drop in July and less than the forecast for an 11.6% decline in a Reuters survey of economists.
It was the 11th consecutive month exports fell on an annual basis, the longest period since January 2020.
Imports fell 22.8% to $51 billion, after a 25.4% drop the month before. Economists had expected a 23.2% decline.
As a result, the country posted a trade surplus of $0.87 billion in August, narrower than a $1.65 billion surplus in July.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
