Seoul: South Korea's exports surged 50.4 percent from a year earlier in the first 20 days of this month, driven by strong overseas demand for semiconductors, data showed Monday. Outbound shipments reached US$53.3 billion in the March 1-20 period, compared with $35.4 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

According to Yonhap News Agency, it marked the country's largest exports recorded for the cited period, according to the agency. Imports increased 19.7 percent on-year to $41.2 billion during the period, resulting in a trade surplus of $12.1 billion, the data showed. Per-day exports surged 40.4 percent on-year to $3.55 billion, the data showed. The number of working days totaled 15, compared with 14 days recorded in the same period last year.

By item, exports of semiconductors surged 163.9 percent on-year to a record high of $18.7 billion on a continued increase in memory chip prices fueled by high demand for artificial intelligence servers. The figure marked the highest amount ever recorded for the first 20 days of any given month. Chip exports accounted for 35 percent of the country's total exports over the cited period, up 15.1 percentage points from the same period last year. Exports of petroleum products jumped 49 percent to $3.2 billion.

Auto exports went up 11.1 percent on-year to $3.7 billion, while shipments of vessels dipped 3.9 percent to $2.1 billion. By destination, exports to China, South Korea's top trading partner, soared 69 percent on-year to $10.8 billion. Shipments to the United States jumped 57.8 percent to $10.6 billion despite the tariff scheme by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, the data showed.