South Korea’s exports shrank last month from a year earlier, extending an on-year decline to two months.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that exports in October stood at 41-point-nine billion dollars, down three-point-two percent from the same month a year earlier.
It is the second month in a row that exports fell year-on-year after it posted a first on-year growth in 20 months in August. Exports fell by five-point-nine percent in September from a year earlier.
Protracted labor strikes by unions of the country’s automakers as well as the decision by Samsung Electronics to permanently suspend the production of the Galaxy Note 7 are assessed to have chilled exports in October.
The nation’s imports also dropped by five-point-four percent on-year to 34-point-eight billion dollars.
The monthly trade surplus was tallied at seven-point-two billion dollars to extend a surplus rally to the 57th straight month since February 2012.