South Korea’s exports to China fell for the tenth consecutive month in April, raising concerns that annual exports to Beijing will drop to a record low this year since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1992.

According to the Korea International Trade Association(KITA) on Wednesday, South Korea’s exports to China stood at nine-point-six billion U.S. dollars in April, plummeting by 18-point-four percent from the same month a year earlier.

It marks the tenth consecutive month of decline for South Korea’s exports to China since posting negative growth of six-point-five percent in July.

It ties with the second longest negative growth rally in the history of South Korea’s trading with China, which was posted between March 1998 and December 1998 after South Korea was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis.

The country’s record long export contraction to China is eleven months posted during the global financial crisis between October 2008 and August 2009.

Given that one-fourth of South Korea’s exports are sold in China, experts expect that it will take a significant time for Seoul’s overall exports to recover from the current slump.