South Korea’s August Exports Near $100 Billion, Driven by Semiconductor Boom

South Korea’s exports came close to $100 billion in August as the semiconductor boom continued to lift the country’s trade performance.

Exports reached $98.25 billion, up 68.7% from a year earlier, while imports rose 22.5% to $63.51 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s August trade figures. The daily average of $4.47 billion stayed above $4 billion for a fourth consecutive month.

Semiconductor shipments set a new record and exceeded $40 billion for the third month in a row. Strong demand for high-value memory products, including high-bandwidth memory and DDR5, supported the performance.

The monthly trade surplus stood at $28.34 billion, above $30 billion for the third consecutive month according to the article’s account. Cumulative trade surplus through the previous month reached $2.025 billion, although the reported figure appears alongside a much larger won conversion.