SEOUL, Aug 28 : South Korean exports doubtless prolonged their strong development in August to mark a fifteenth consecutive month of good points, pushed by surging international demand for AI chips, a Reuters ballot confirmed on Thursday.
A median forecast of 10 economists projected that exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economic system – a bellwether for international commerce – rose 62.6 per cent in August from a yr earlier, matching the momentum of July’s 63 per cent surge.
Analysts mentioned that the good points continued to be anchored by reminiscence chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, that are benefiting from climbing costs fueled by the AI funding growth.
“IT exports, notably semiconductors, are anticipated to maintain excessive export development. Nonetheless, car exports will doubtless expertise a slight slowdown, impacted by components reminiscent of labour strikes within the automotive sector,” Park Sang-hyun, an economist at iM Funding and Securities, mentioned.
“Wanting forward, whereas international manufacturing energy will proceed to help this semiconductor-led upward development, the year-over-year export development fee is projected to step by step decelerate resulting from base results.”
The survey tipped imports to rise 24.7 per cent in August from a yr earlier.
The month-to-month commerce surplus was forecast at a median $30.74 billion, in contrast with $30.40 billion within the earlier month.
South Korea is scheduled to report commerce figures for August on Tuesday, September 1, at 9 a.m. native time (0000 GMT).