By Joori Roh

SEOUL (Reuters – South Korea’s exports grew at a slow pace over the past 14 months. In April, the trade deficit in South Korea’s goods grew as a result o f a steady rise in energy and raw material prices. Imports soared.

Trade ministry data on Sunday showed that April’s export growth was 12.6% compared to a year ago, reaching $57.69 trillion. This is the slowest rate since February 2021, and it missed Reuters’ forecast of 14.5%.

This rate also grew slower than March’s 18.2%.

Exports of semiconductors, which are the top earner of foreign currency, increased 15.8% while those for petrochemicals rose 6.8%. Exports of steel and oil products increased by 68.8%, and 21.1% respectively.

Exports to China, South Korea’s largest trading partner, fell 3.4% while exports to the United States, European Union and Canada increased 26.4% & 7.4% respectively.

In the meantime, imports rose 18.6% to $60.35 Billion, with $14.81 Billion worth of coal, gas, and oil taking the lead. This brought the trade surplus to $2.66 billion, after it had been $115million in March.