South Korea's cumulative exports from January to August posted a record high, with annual exports forecasted to exceed 600 billion dollars for the first time this year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Saturday that outbound shipments in August are tentatively tallied at 51-point-two billion dollars, up eight-point-seven percent year-on-year.

The cumulative volume during the first eight months of the year rose six-point-six percent from the same period last year to an all time high of 399-point-eight billion dollars.

South Korea has seen continued export growth of over 50 billion dollars for four consecutive months since May.

Industry Minister Paik Un-gyu forecast export growth of an average five percent in the remaining months of the year, saying that annual exports for the whole of 2018 are expected to top 600 billion dollars for the very first time.

Imports also jumped more than nine percent on-year to over 44 billion dollars last month.

Rising global oil costs sharply increased imports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas. 

The resulting trade surplus was six-point-nine billion dollars, marking the 79th consecutive month that exports have exceeded imports.

The ministry attributed the rise in exports to a recovery in global manufacturing, the increased GDP of major economies and higher prices of key export items.