By Joori Roh

SEOUL (Reuters – South Korea’s exports in 2020 grew at the fastest rate in 11 years. This was due to record exports values and post-pandemic recovery of global demand for key exporting products.

South Korea’s entire 2021 exports rose 25.8% over the previous year to record $644.54 trillion, data from the trade ministry showed Saturday. It was the fastest increase since 2010.

It was the third year of growth after the previous contractions of 5.5% in 2020, and 10.4% respectively in 2019.

According to an item breakdown, exports of semiconductors rose 29% to $128 billion. Petrochemicals saw a 54.8% increase to $55.1 billion. Others items, such as steels and cars, also saw a jump of 24.2% to 37%.

The destination of the exports from South Korea to China, its largest trade partner, rose 22.9%. While those going to the United States or European Union increased 29.4% and 33%, respectively.

Imports rose 31.5% in the past year to $615.1 billion. This is a rebound from 2020’s 7.1% contraction.

The Saturday data showed that exports increased 18.3% year over year, which extended the month’s growth to a fourteenth consecutive month. However, the growth rate in November was lower than 32%. According to Reuters, 13 economists expected 22% growth.

In December, total exports stood at $60.74 Billion. This was the largest monthly amount of any time.

Dec growth saw a 35.1% rise in semiconductors exports. Overall exports to China, the United States, and Japan also rose 20.8% and 22.9% respectively.