Exports of South Korea’s small and mid-sized enterprises(SME) declined in the first quarter of 2019 from a year earlier.  

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on Thursday that outbound shipments by SMEs stood at 28-point-five trillion won in the January-March period, down four percent from the same quarter last year. 

The ministry attributes the decrease to falling prices of semiconductor and petrochemical products that are major export items to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as the overall economic slowdown in China. 

Their exports to all three regions posted double-digit drops, including an eleven-point-three percent fall in exports to China. 

However, the companies’ exports to other countries went up, including the U.S. by eight-point-five percent and India by 12-point-one percent.