Semiconductors Drive South Korea's Exports, Accounting for 49% of October's $115.3 Billion Total

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy: October Export and Import Trends
Semiconductor Exports Reach $56.4 Billion, Up 259%
January-October Exports Total $930 Billion, $70 Billion Short of $1 Trillion

October exports totaled $115.3 billion, surpassing $110 billion for the second consecutive month after doing so in September. Semiconductors once again drove the growth. Exports reached $56.4 billion in October alone, accounting for nearly half of total exports.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on November 1, exports in October totaled $115.3 billion, up 93.7% from the same month a year earlier.

Semiconductors led the growth in exports. Semiconductor exports rose 259%, while exports of non-semiconductor items increased 34%. Semiconductor exports exceeded $50 billion a month for the second consecutive month, as global tech giants continued to ramp up aggressive investment in facilities to secure market leadership. The ministry attributed this to continued excess demand centered on DRAM and sustained increases in fixed prices for both DRAM and NAND. With strong semiconductor exports, semiconductors accounted for 48.9% of total exports, the highest share ever recorded for October.

Computer exports posted triple-digit growth for the ninth consecutive month, driven by rising demand for enterprise SSDs for AI servers amid the spread of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) and increased global investment in AI infrastructure. In particular, semiconductor exports to the United States in October surged 497%, marking the 10th consecutive month of triple-digit growth. Exports of most major items increased, with triple-digit growth continuing for the second consecutive month.

October imports rose 36.0% to $72.78 billion. Energy imports ($16.49 billion) increased 63.1%, while imports excluding energy ($56.29 billion) rose 29.7%. The volume of crude oil imports edged down 6.3%, but the unit price rose sharply by 62.0%, pushing the value of crude oil imports up 51.9% to $10.7 billion. Among non-energy imports, imports of semiconductor equipment ($2.52 billion, up 49.2%) and automobiles ($1.46 billion, up 38.5%) increased.

The trade balance posted a surplus of $42.5 billion in October, up $36.5 billion from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive month with a surplus of more than $40 billion. The cumulative trade surplus from January to October totaled $294.9 billion, an increase of $239.1 billion from the same period last year.

The government expects South Korea's exports to surpass $1 trillion in November. Cumulative exports from January to October reached $930 billion, exceeding $900 billion for the first time. Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-kwan said, "With exports continuing to grow steadily, surpassing $110 billion in October, annual exports are now virtually certain to reach $1 trillion in November. This is the result of growing demand for semiconductors and other advanced industries, driven by the expansion of the AI industry, as well as the efforts of our companies, which are demonstrating their competitiveness in global markets despite challenging external conditions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.