SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean exports for the first 20 days of March fell 17.4% from the comparable period of last year while imports dropped by a slower 5.7%, as demand from China remained weak, customs agency data showed on Tuesday.
Exports by Asia’s fourth-largest economy to its top market of China fell by a sharp 36.2% during the March 1-20 period over a year earlier, whereas shipments to the U.S. increased 4.6%, the Korea Customs Service data showed.
The trade deficit for the 20-day period stood at $6.32 billion, bigger than both a shortfall of $2.05 billion for the same 2022 period and a deficit of $6.12 billion for the Feb. 1-20 period of this year, the data showed.
(Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
