South Korea’s exports rose three-point-six percent in October from a year earlier, marking a fifth straight month of growth despite U.S. tariff pressure and fewer working days during the long Chuseok holiday.

According to the trade ministry, outbound shipments totaled 59-point-six billion dollars — the highest figure ever for October — driven by robust sales of semiconductors and ships.

Semiconductor exports surged 25-point-four percent to 15-point-seven billion dollars, boosted by global demand for high-bandwidth memory(HBM) and DDR5 chips, while ship exports jumped 131-point-two percent to four-point-seven billion dollars.

However, exports of cars, steel and machinery fell sharply amid U.S. tariffs, with automobile exports plunging 35-point-six percent and steel by 33 percent.

Shipments to the United States tumbled 16-point-two percent, while exports to Taiwan soared 46 percent on strong HBM demand.

Trade, Industry and Resources Minister Kim Jeong-kwan said the recent South Korea-U.S. tariff deal reached on October 29 will “remove much of the uncertainty that has constrained exports.”