South Korea's exports topped $120.9 billion in September, opening the era of monthly shipments above $120 billion for the first time. Semiconductor exports exceeded $60 billion for the first time, lifting overall shipments, while cumulative exports for January through September reached $814.5 billion — already surpassing last year's record annual total.
Exports stood at $120.94 billion in September, up 83.5% from a year earlier, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said on the 1st. Imports rose 26.0% to $71.09 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $49.85 billion. Both the monthly export figure and the trade surplus were the highest on record. The cumulative trade surplus for the first nine months also hit a record $252.5 billion.
Daily average exports, which account for the number of working days, came to $5.63 billion, up 104.9% from a year earlier. It was the first time daily average exports exceeded $5 billion. Export growth continued even though working days declined because of the timing of the Chuseok holiday.
Semiconductors drove the gains. September chip exports surged 262.8% from a year earlier to $60.3 billion, clearing $60 billion for the first time. That was $13.6 billion above the previous record of $46.7 billion set in August. The jump reflected both stronger memory demand and higher prices as investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure expanded.
Semiconductors accounted for nearly half of total exports. Memory chip exports in particular soared 358.6% to $54.07 billion in September from $11.79 billion a year earlier. Over the same period, system chip exports rose 28.8% to $5.54 billion from $4.3 billion. Much of the surge in chip exports came from memory.
Fixed memory prices continued to climb. The price of 16-gigabit DDR5 chips rose to $48 in September from $37.5 in May, while 128-gigabit NAND flash chips climbed to $30.6 from $26.5 over the same period.
Expanding AI infrastructure investment also lifted computer exports, which jumped 435.3% from a year earlier to a record $7 billion. Of that, solid-state drive exports surged 532% to $6.77 billion from $1.07 billion a year earlier. The ministry cited the spread of agentic AI and growing demand for enterprise SSDs as global investment in AI data centers increases.
Excluding semiconductors, total exports still rose 23% from a year earlier. Petroleum products climbed 72% to $7.2 billion, and ships rose 30% to $3.8 billion. Wireless communication devices and electrical equipment each gained 23%. Cosmetics exports rose 31.4% to a record $1.51 billion.
Performance varied sharply by product, however. Auto exports fell 5% to $6.1 billion, and auto parts declined 7%. Displays dropped 9% and home appliances fell 13%.
By region, exports to China rose 122.7% to $26.01 billion and shipments to the United States gained 137.0% to $24.33 billion. Exports to Southeast Asian nations rose 92.6% to $21.29 billion, topping $20 billion for the first time. Chip shipments rose sharply to all three markets.
Cumulative exports for the first nine months reached $814.5 billion, up 56.8% from a year earlier. That already exceeds last year's record annual total of $709.3 billion, leaving $185.5 billion to reach $1 trillion for the year. The government said global protectionism and tensions in the Middle East remain variables for fourth-quarter exports.
