Anchor: Exports posted the steepest drop in nearly four years in October, prolonging the monthly decline to eleven straight months. Outbound shipments have not posted such a sustained decline since 2016, when it was triggered by a global plunge in oil prices. The government downplayed concerns, however, saying that exports will begin to pick up from next month.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: South Korea's outbound shipments declined 14-point-seven percent on-year to 46-point-78 billion U.S. dollars last month, the sharpest decrease since January 2016 when exports plunged 19-point-six percent. 

October was the eleventh consecutive month that exports have declined, the longest such streak in some three years.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Friday that the drop was primarily due to semiconductors, which slipped more than 32 percent on-year due to a decrease in unit prices. Exports of petrochemical and oil products also fell more than 20 percent last month.

Exports to China and Japan both posted double-digit declines -- 17 and 14 percent, respectively -- while U.S.-bound shipments slipped more than eight percent.

The ministry said the U.S-China trade war accounts for the drop in exports to the two countries, but said that Seoul’s own trade row with Tokyo had little to do with the fall in exports to Japan.

Despite the declines in other sectors, exports of ships, computers and biohealth products each saw strong growth.

Meanwhile, imports amounted to 41-point-39 billion dollars last month, decreasing for the sixth consecutive month. 

The country's trade surplus came to five-point-39 billion in October, marking 93 straight months in which national exports have exceeded imports. 

The ministry assessed that exports had hit bottom in October as the semiconductor industry is expected to pick up amid hopes of a reprieve in trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.

The ministry forecast that exports will begin to recover from next month and rebound in the first half of next year.  
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.