South Korea Posts $6.6 B July Surplus on Chip-Led Export Jump

South Korea logged a US$6.61 billion trade surplus in July, as exports rose 5.9% from a year earlier to US$60.8 billion, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy data show. Imports edged up 0.7% to US$54.2 billion. Both export and surplus figures marked record highs for the month of July. The rebound was led by semiconductors, whose overseas sales jumped 31.6% to US$14.71 billion amid firmer memory-chip prices and demand for high-bandwidth memory and DDR5 products. Automobile exports climbed 8.8% to US$5.83 billion, while ship shipments more than doubled to US$2.24 billion. By destination, exports to the United States rose 1.4% to US$10.33 billion, and shipments to ASEAN economies grew 10.1% to US$10.91 billion. Sales to the European Union increased 8.7%, but exports to China slipped 3% on weaker petrochemical and wireless-equipment demand.