Seoul, Oct 1 (IANS): South Korea's exports came down 8.3 percent in September from a year earlier, keeping a downward trend for nine straight months, a government report showed on Thursday.
Exports, which account for about half of South Korea's economy, declined 8.3 percent from a year earlier to $43.51 billion in September after tumbling 14.7 percent in the month earlier, Xinhua reported quoting the ministry of trade, industry and energy's report.
Imports plunged 21.8 percent year-on-year to $34.56 billion in September. Both exports and imports maintained the downward trend for nine months in a row.
Helped by faster decline in imports than exports, trade surplus reached $8.94 billion in September, staying in the black for 44 months since February 2012.