South Korea's exports fell for the tenth consecutive month in September amid trade tensions with Japan and the U.S.-China trade war.

According to tentative data by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Tuesday, the nation's outbound shipments plunged eleven-point-seven percent last month from a year earlier to 44-point-71 billion dollars.

Exports have now contracted for ten straight months since December last year when they shrank one-point-seven percent.

A drop in the unit prices of major export items such as chips and petrochemical products pulled down the value of exports. 

However, export volume grew three-point-one percent last month and daily average exports came to two-point-18 billion dollars, the largest figure so far this year and surpassing the two-billion dollar mark for the first time in three months. 

The trade surplus thus reached a yearly high of five-point-97 billion dollars, marking 92 straight months in which exports exceeded imports. 

Meanwhile, imports fell five-point-six percent to 38-point-74 billion dollars and exports to Japan decreased five-point-nine percent in September.