FLKR - South Korea: Exports Grew Solidly In July While The Manufacturing PMI Moderated

2024-08-01 07:25:00 ET

Summary

• Korean exports have risen for ten consecutive months, but imports also rebounded, narrowing the trade surplus and could drag on GDP growth in the current quarter.
• Recent surveys suggested a moderation of export momentum.
• July export details were quite encouraging, so we still expect exports to remain the main driver of growth in 3Q24.

By Min Joo Kang

Trade surplus narrowed in July due to a rebound in imports

Export growth accelerated to 13.9% YoY in July (vs 5.1% in June, 18.4% market consensus) mainly due to favourable calendar effects. Adjusting for working days, average daily exports moderated to 7.1% in July from 12.4% in June. By product, 11 out of 15 major exports gained. IT exports were quite solid with computers (61.6%), wireless devices (53.6%), displays (2.4%), and semiconductors (50.4%) increasing. Car exports dropped 9.1%, but this was mainly due to the summer shutdown, while auto parts exports rebounded 9.5% for the first time in three months. By destination, exports gained across the region except to the EU (-1.4%)....

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