South Korea's export fell for three straight months through February, posting a double-digit decline last month on weak demand for locally-made semiconductor, a government report showed on Friday.
Export, which account for about half of the economy, declined 11.7 percent over the year to 39.56 billion U.S. dollars in February, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The downward trend continued, after sliding 1.2 percent in December last year and 5.8 percent in January. It marked the first time since July 2016 that the outbound shipment kept falling for three months in a row.
The daily average export stood at 2.08 billion U.S. dollars in February, up from 1.93 billion U.S. dollars in January.
Import shrank 12.6 percent to 36.47 billion U.S. dollars, sending the trade surplus in February to 3.09 billion U.S. dollars.
The trade balance stayed in black for 85 straight months, but last month's surplus was below a monthly average of 5.9 billion U.S. dollars tallied in 2018.
The double-digit fall in export stemmed from soft demand for locally-made chip, of which shipment tumbled 24.8 percent in February from a year earlier.
Price for DRAM memory chip, the country's major export item, plunged 36.8 percent last month, with the price for NAND flash memory chip dropping 25.2 percent.
Exports for oil product and petrochemicals logged a double-digit reduction last month as supply glut pulled down product prices.
Machinery export rose for two straight months on demand from China and India, with car shipment gaining for the third consecutive month on demand for new SUV models and environmentally-friendly vehicles.
Steel export grew for two months through February on demand from the United States and Japan, but export for display panel declined on lower product price.
Shipment for telecommunication devices, such as smartphone, kept sliding by a double digit on lower product price and an increased production in overseas factories.
Among the new growth engine products, biopharmaceutical product export advanced 24.5 percent last month on demand for biosimilars and medical devices.
Shipment for secondary batteries recorded a double-digit increase on demand from the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries.
The OLED export rose for the fourth consecutive month thanks to strong demand for premium TVs, while electric vehicle shipment surged 92.4 percent as tight environment regulations strengthened demand for environmentally-friendly vehicles.
By country, export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, sank 17.4 percent in February from a year earlier on reduced demand for chip, petrochemical, oil product and steel.
Shipment to the EU declined last month, but the country's export to the United States gained for five months in a row on demand for automobile and telecommunication devices.
Export to India kept an upward trend for the sixth consecutive month, but shipment to Southeast Asian countries fell on soft demand for smartphone and oil product.