South Korea's exports have fallen for the fifth consecutive month due primarily to sluggish global semiconductor demand and falling chip prices.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Wednesday that the country’s exports were tallied at 48-point-86 billion U.S. dollars in April, two percent lower than the same month last year. 

This extends an on-year decline that began in December, but last month's decline is far below the eight-point-two percent and eleven-point-four percent contractions observed in March and February, respectively.

Falling prices and sluggish demand have seen exports of semiconductors decrease by 13-point-five percent on-year. 

However, exports of automobiles, ships, machinery and other backbone industries remained solid. Outbound shipments of products of new growth engines such as biomedical engineering, secondary batteries and electric vehicles were also strong.

Imports stood at 44-point-74 billion dollars, helping the country extend its trade surplus for the 87th consecutive month.