SEOUL- South Korea’s exports fell for the first time in 16 months and at the sharpest pace in a year and a half due to US tariff uncertainty and unfavorable calendar effects, preliminary data released on Saturday showed.
Export data out of Asia’s fourth-largest economy is a closely watched indicator to gauge momentum for global trade.
South Korea’s exports fell 10.3 percent in January from a year earlier, versus a gain of 6.6 percent in December and a forecast for a 13.5 percent drop in a Reuters survey of economists.
It was the biggest percentage fall since July 2023, when the economy logged a 16.2 percent drop in exports.
The January decline was partly influenced by a seasonal comparison to last year when there were more working days due to the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays.
There were 20 working days in January 2025, compared with 24 days the same month the year before.
The decline also underscores slowing demand for South Korea’s exports and risks for trade-reliant economies from the Trump administration’s policies, analysts say.
“Declining price of semiconductor prices could lead to a downturn in the chip sector and there are downside risks in trade environment due to uncertainty related to Trump administration’s trade policies,” said Chun Kyu-yeon, an economist at Hana Securities.
January imports declined 6.4 percent, resulting in preliminary trade deficit of $1.89 billion.