Seoul: South Korea's exports experienced a significant increase of 36.7 percent year-on-year during the first 10 days of April, bolstered by a strong demand for semiconductors, as data revealed on Monday. Outbound shipments reached a total of US$25.2 billion in the April 1-10 timeframe, compared to $18.4 billion recorded during the same period last year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, this marks the highest export figure ever recorded for the first 10 days of any month, surpassing the previous record of $21.7 billion set in the same period last month. Semiconductor exports alone surged 152 percent on-year to $8.6 billion, driven by the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom, and accounted for 34 percent of the nation's total exports during this period, marking a 15.6 percentage point increase from last year.

The data also indicated that exports of petroleum products increased by 38.6 percent to $1.8 billion. However, exports in the automobile sector declined by 6.7 percent to $1.7 billion, with auto parts shipments decreasing by 7.3 percent to $654 million. Geographically, exports to China, South Korea's largest trading partner, rose 63.8 percent on-year to $5.7 billion. Shipments to the United States also saw an increase, rising by 24 percent to $4.3 billion despite the existing tariff schemes.

Furthermore, imports grew by 12.7 percent year-on-year to $22.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $3.1 billion. Semiconductor imports rose by 29.7 percent, and crude oil imports increased by 8.7 percent, while machinery imports fell by 7.4 percent. The continued rise in crude oil imports, reaching $2.8 billion in early April, was attributed to higher global oil prices due to tensions in the Middle East and the weak Korean won, according to the Korea Customs Service.