South Korea Data: Unexpected Increase in October Exports, Strong Demand for Chips and Ships

The data on Saturday showed that South Korea's October exports unexpectedly grew due to strong demand for chips and ships, despite cautiousness among businesses as global prospects were clouded by U.S. tariff policies. South Korea's October exports increased by 3.6% from the same period last year, reaching $59.57 billion, while economists had predicted a 0.2% decline. The South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated that semiconductor exports grew by 25.4% annually, higher than September's 22.1%, driven by strong demand for high bandwidth memory for servers and high-capacity, high-value memory chips such as DDR5, pushing up prices. Ship sales also surged by 131.2% year-on-year, while petrochemical product sales increased by 12.7%. Analysts believe that the trade agreement between Washington and Seoul, which lowers tariffs on cars and car parts to 15%, will reduce uncertainty in the trade environment and gradually improve exports.