Exports rose about three percent on-year in the first ten days of November.

According to preliminary data from the Korea Customs Service on Monday, the country’s outbound shipments marked 18-point-23 billion U.S. dollars in the cited period, up three-point-two percent on-year.

Average daily exports also gained three-point-two percent, with the number of working days the same as last year at eight and a half.

Exports of semiconductors rose one-point-three percent on-year during the ten-day period, the first increase in 14 months since September last year.

Shipments of automobiles also rose 37-point-two percent, while exports of petroleum products slipped nine-point-two percent.

Outbound shipments to the United States and Japan increased 23 percent and 26-point-nine percent, each, while exports to China and the European Union dropped zero-point-one percent and five percent, respectively.

Imports increased one-point-two percent on-year to about 20 billion dollars during the same period, resulting in a trade deficit of one-point-74 billion dollars, lower than the five-point-39 billion-dollar shortfall logged a month earlier.