South Korea’s exports fell 7.5 percent in the first 10 days of January from a year earlier due largely to a sharp decline in shipments of semiconductors and ships, customs data showed Friday.

The country’s outbound shipments reached $12.7 billion in the Jan. 1-10 period, compared with $13.6 billion in the same period of last year, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

The office said that daily average exports, which reflect working days, also fell 7.5 percent on-year to $1.69 billion in the cited period.

By product, outbound shipments of semiconductors and ships fell 27.2 percent and 29.7 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

On the other hand, exports of passenger cars soared 127.7 percent. But outbound shipments of wireless communication devices rose 23.5 percent.

Exports to the United States and Canada rose 36.6 percent and

99.5 percent, respectively, while shipments to China and Middle Eastern countries fell 15.1 percent and 40 percent, respectively, the data showed.

South Korea imported goods worth $14.5 billion in the 10-day period, down 6.8 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s economy showed “a solid trend of exports and domestic spending, but uncertainties persist over trade disputes between the US and China, and the semiconductor business,” the ministry said in its monthly economic assessment report.

The report, called the “Green Book,” is based on the latest economic indicators of such key factors as output, exports, consumption and corporate investment, which provide clues as to how Asia’s fourth-largest economy has been faring in recent months.

The country’s overall industrial output increased 0.2 percent in November from a year earlier, while facility investment fell 7.4 percent in the third quarter of 2018 from the same period of the previous year. (Yonhap)