SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) South Korea’s export hit a record monthly high last month thanks to the global demand recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a government report showed Sunday.
The outbound shipment spiked 29.6 percent from a year earlier to 55.44 billion U.S. dollars in July, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It was the highest-ever export since data began to be compiled in 1956, topping the previous high of 55.12 billion dollars tallied in September 2017.
Import advanced 38.2 percent over the year to 53.67 billion dollars in July, sending the trade surplus to 1.77 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in the black for 15 straight months.
The export soared more than 20 percent for the fourth consecutive month, continuing to rise for nine months since November last year.
For the first seven months of this year, the export reached a new high of 358.7 billion dollars. It was up 26.6 percent compared to the same period of last year.