[Courtesy of Hyundai Heavy Industries]
South Korean exports posted an 8.2 percent on-year drop in March, marking the 15th consecutive month of declines, mainly due to sluggish shipments of petrochemical and oil-related products.
Exports stood at 42.98 billion US dollars in March, down 8.2 percent from a year ago, while imports dropped 13.8 percent to $33.2 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The decline in March exports, however, slowed significantly from the previous month.
In March, South Korea's trade surplus widened to $9.82 billion from $7.39 billion in the previous month as imports dropped at a faster rate.
Central bank data showed South Korea's current account surplus widened 23.5 percent from a year ago to $7.51 billion in February.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
