Weak demand drags down South Korean exports in May

And South Korea’s ‘Yonhap’ news agency cited data from the country’s customs administration on Monday, indicating that exports in the period from May 1 to May 20 amounted to $32.4 billion. , compared to $38.6 billion in the same period last year.

The data showed that imports fell 15.3% year-on-year to $36.7 billion over the same period, leading to a trade deficit of $4.3 billion.

According to the data, exports of chips, which are a major export commodity, fell 35.5 percent year-on-year over the same period to $4.26 billion.

Petroleum product exports fell 33% to $3 billion and steel exports fell 7.5% to $2.9 billion.

Meanwhile, auto exports rose 54.7% over the same period, to $3.44 billion.

In the past month as a whole, South Korea’s total exports fell 14.2 percent year on year to $49.6 billion.

Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.

Arab Desk

The Arab Desk leads The Eastern Herald's reporting on the Middle East and North Africa. The desk has covered the Gaza-Israel war since October 2023, the Iran-Israel war of 2025-2026, the fall of the Assad government in Syria, Hezbollah's political and military shifts in Lebanon, the war in Yemen, and the diplomatic realignment of the Gulf states under the Abraham Accords and the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement.