S. Korea logs trade surplus for 7th straight month in Aug.

SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea posted a trade surplus for a seventh
straight month in August as imports declined sharper than exports amid a global
economic slowdown, a government report showed Monday.

According to the report by the Korea Customs Service (KCS), South Korea's trade
surplus amounted to US$1.7 billion last month, down sharply from over $4.4
billion tallied for the previous month.
"The drop in the surplus size is mainly due to weak outbound shipments of autos
and ships in the cited month," the KCS said.
The latest figure showed exports declining 20.9 percent on-year to $28.9 billion
with imports plunging 32.6 percent to $27.2 billion.
Both exports and imports have continued to contract since November 2008.
In the first eight months of this year, South Korea's exports reached $226.3
billion, down 22.3 percent from the year before. Imports reached $199.6 billion
for a surplus of just under $26.7 billion.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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