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

According to the Korea Customs Service on Sunday, the country’s exports marked 24-point-84 billion U.S. dollars in the first 20 days of May, up two-point-one percent year-on-year.

It is the first time this year that the figure for the first 20 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 181 billion dollars as of May 20th this year, down eleven percent on-year.