S. Korea's trade surplus to reach record US$31 bln by Sept.

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's trade surplus is expected to reach a record US$31 billion in the first nine months of this year thanks mainly to a sharper drop in imports compared to exports, the government said Monday.

Officials from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and businesses executives said
at a joint trade review meeting that the country's exports contracted 21 percent
on-year from January through September, while imports plunged 33 percent.
They said the sharper drop in inbound shipments helped by lower international
crude oil prices and weak local demand for capital goods pushed up the trade
surplus to the highest levels yet.
"The size of the surplus so far, exceeds the $28.9 billion tallied in the nine
months of 1998 when the country was rocked by the Asian financial crisis," a
ministry official said. At that time the country was short of foreign reserves
and could not import goods.
He added that because overall trade volume has fallen off this year due to the
worldwide economic slump, South Korea's export ranking climbed three notches to
ninth place by sidestepping both Britain and Canada that ranked 10th and 11th
respectively.
China ranked first among exporting countries followed by Germany, the United
States, Japan and France.
For the fourth quarter, officials and businessmen predicted South Korea's exports
will rebound into positive territory fueled by overseas sales of semiconductors,
mobile communications equipment, display panels and information technology
products.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)