Semiconductor boom drives South Korea's exports to record $275.5b in Q2

South Korea's exports hit a record high in the second quarter of this year, buoyed by a booming semiconductor market. Large chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the surge, pushing export concentration among the top 10 companies to an all-time high as well.

South Korea's exports reached $275.5 billion in the second quarter of this year, up 57.3 percent from the same period last year, according to preliminary trade statistics by company characteristics released Tuesday by the Ministry of Statistics and the Korea Customs Service. It is the largest quarterly figure since the government began compiling the data in 2015.

An unprecedented upswing in the semiconductor industry was a major driver behind the record-breaking result.

By company size, exports by large enterprises jumped 81.8 percent year-on-year, far outpacing mid-sized firms at 10.9 percent and small and medium-sized enterprises at 13.1 percent. The outsized gains reflected the export expansion of major chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Export concentration among the country's biggest shippers also intensified. The top 10 exporters by value accounted for 55.3 percent of total exports, up 17.0 percentage points from a year earlier — the highest share on record.

Broken down by workforce size, companies with 250 or more employees saw exports rise 67.4 percent, while those with 10 to 249 workers and those with one to nine workers posted gains of 19.3 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.

By industry, exports from the mining and manufacturing sector — which includes semiconductors — climbed 64.9 percent, leading the overall increase. Electrical and electronics exports soared to $160.4 billion, a jump of 109.8 percent, and accounted for 58 percent of total exports.

The semiconductor boom was equally evident when exports were broken down by type of goods. Capital goods exports rose 87.1 percent and raw materials exports grew 25.2 percent. Consumer goods exports, however, edged down 0.5 percent. Cosmetics shipments increased on the back of the K-beauty trend, but weakness in automobiles and other categories dragged overall consumer goods exports lower.

"Cosmetics exports grew among mid-sized and small and medium-sized enterprises," the Ministry of Statistics said. "For automobiles, expanded local production overseas and tariff-related issues appear to have contributed to the decline in exports."

By destination, exports to Southeast Asia jumped 85.1 percent, while shipments to China and the United States rose 78.2 percent and 64.3 percent, respectively. Exports to the Middle East and the Commonwealth of Independent States fell 14.0 percent and 11.0 percent, respectively.

The number of exporting companies in the second quarter reached 69,906, up 2.0 percent from a year earlier. Imports over the same period totaled $188.9 billion, a 22.4 percent increase. By company size, large enterprises posted import growth of 27.2 percent, mid-sized firms 19.0 percent, and small and medium-sized enterprises 13.9 percent.

By industry, imports in the mining and manufacturing sector rose 25.9 percent, while wholesale and retail trade and other industries grew 17.7 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively. By goods type, capital goods recorded the largest increase at 28.9 percent, followed by raw materials at 21.6 percent and consumer goods at 6.5 percent.

By region, imports from China rose 33.3 percent, from Southeast Asia 29.1 percent, and from the United States 25.7 percent, while imports from the Middle East fell 2.6 percent. The number of importing companies stood at 161,277, up 3.5 percent from the same period last year.