South Korean firms listed in the country’s main stock market are losing operating and net profits at the sharpest pace in nine years as a whole. 

According to the Korea Exchange on Monday, sales of 574 firms listed by the Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) combined to post sales worth 988-point-24 trillion won in the first half of this year, marking an increase of zero-point-83 percent from the same period last year. 

Their total operating profit, however, plummeted by 37-point-09 percent to 55-point-581 trillion won, while their net profits plunged 42-point-95 percent to slightly over 47 trillion won. 

This amounts to the sharpest drops since the first half of 2011, when KOSPI-listed firms began to use consolidated financial statements. 

The slowing global economy caused in part by the prolonged trade spat between the U.S. and China as well as a sluggish global semiconductor market were one of the factors blamed for dragging down the firms’ performances.