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Korea Merchandise Exports

Korea Merchandise Exports

Merchandise Exports in Korea

Merchandise exports were worth USD 684 billion in 2024 in Korea compared to USD 573 billion ten years earlier, and averaged USD 588 billion over the last decade. For more exports information, visit our dedicated page.

Korea Merchandise Exports Chart

Note: This chart displays Exports (USD billion) for Korea from 2024 to 2023.
Source: Macrobond.

Korea Merchandise Exports Data

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Merchandise Exports (USD bn) 512 644 684 632 684
Merchandise Exports (ann. var. %) -5.5 25.7 6.1 -7.5 8.1

Merchandise exports increase in June

Latest reading: Merchandise exports rose 4.3% on an annual basis in June, rebounding from a 1.3% decline in May, though undershooting market expectations. The result marked the best print since December 2024, mainly driven by robust semiconductor exports—the country’s main export—due to solid AI demand. On the flipside, shipments of steel products shrank due to US tariffs. Meanwhile, merchandise imports rose 3.3% in annual terms in June (May: -5.3% yoy), marking the strongest result since August 2024. As a result, the merchandise trade balance improved from the previous month, recording a USD 9.1 billion surplus in June (May 2025: USD 6.9 billion surplus; June 2024: USD 8.3 billion surplus). Lastly, the trend pointed up, with the 12-month trailing merchandise trade balance recording a USD 56.7 billion surplus in June, compared to the USD 55.8 billion surplus in May.

Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, Nomura’s Jeong Woo Park said: “Beyond Q2, amid a pick-up in AI demand led by Nvidia ramping up its Blackwell series, we believe surging chip prices will continue to support a recovery in chip exports, which we believe could provide an offset to the tariff shock. Furthermore, while the US tariff threat is likely to remain a potential downside risk to the export outlook as we approach the tariff negotiation deadline (8 July), we expect the tariff negotiation to result in lower effective tariffs, including lower tariffs on auto sectors and the continued exemption of tech products.”

Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years

How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Korean merchandise exports projections for the next ten years from a panel of 5 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable merchandise exports forecast available for Korean merchandise exports.

Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Korean merchandise exports projections.

Want to get access to the full dataset of Korean merchandise exports forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.

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