Anchor: South Korea’s exports fell for the sixth consecutive month in March. The industry ministry said Saturday that the decline is mainly due to weak global demand for semiconductors.
Kim Soyon has more.
 
Report: The country’s exports marked their sixth straight month of decline in March, in part due to the weakened demand for semiconductors amid a slowdown in the global economy.
 
Outbound shipments fell 13-point-six percent on-year to 55-point-12 billion dollars last month, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy revealed on Saturday.
 
Exports have logged on-year falls since October last year amid aggressive monetary tightening in a bid to curb inflation. The decline also marked the first time exports have fallen for six consecutive months since 2020.
 
Exports of semiconductors, the country's key export item, plunged 34-point-five percent in March due to falling demand and a decline in chip prices.
 
The ministry also cited a high base effect as part of reason behind the fall in March, as exports hit an all-time high of 63-point-eight billion dollars in the same month the previous year.
 
March’s decline was steeper than a seven-point.five percent fall in the previous month, but the export value grew to over 55 billion dollars for the first time in six months, the ministry added.
 
Imports fell six-point-four percent on-year to 59-point-75 billion dollars last month, as the country's energy imports dropped eleven-point-one percent on-year. South Korea depends on imports for most of its energy needs.
 
Accordingly, the country suffered a trade deficit of four-point-62 billion dollars in March.
 
Imports have exceeded exports in the country since April last year on high energy prices. It is the first time since 1997 that the country has logged a trade deficit for 13 straight months.
Kim Soyon, KBS World Radio News.