South Korea’s exports are showing signs of a recovery so far this month.

According to the Korea Customs Service on Wednesday, the country’s exports marked nine-point-four billion U.S. dollars in the first ten days of May, up eleven-point-four percent year-on-year.

The customs service attributed the rise to the increased exports of organic compounds due to the slowed process rate at Chinese manufacturers of synthetic textiles.

It’s the first time this year that the figure for the first ten days of a month posted an on-year increase.

South Korea’s exports shrank for 16 straight months since January of last year, marking the longest period of consecutive declines since 1970.

However, the recent shift upward raises expectations for an end to the continued decrease.

The country’s exports came to 166 billion dollars as of May tenth this year, down eleven-point-seven percent on-year.