SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports more than doubled in the first 20 days of October due to soaring demand for locally-made semiconductors, customs office data showed Wednesday.
Outbound shipments surged 105.4 percent from a year earlier to 61.61 billion U.S. dollars in the October 1-20 period, according to the Korea Customs Service.
Daily average exports jumped 65.9 percent to 4.74 billion dollars in the 20-day period.
Semiconductor exports skyrocketed 222.5 percent to 27.52 billion dollars thanks to the expanding global investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Exports for oil products increased 68.3 percent to 3.95 billion dollars, and automotive shipments gained 40.9 percent to 3.36 billion dollars
Shipments of computer peripherals spiked 424.0 percent to 2.43 billion dollars, caused by robust demand for solid-state drives (SSDs).
Imports swelled 42.8 percent over the year to 47.12 billion dollars in the first 20 days of October, sending the trade surplus to 14.49 billion dollars.
Imports for chips, crude oil, machinery, semiconductor equipment, oil products, mobile devices, coal and cars logged a double-digit increase in the cited period. ■