South Korea exports set to rise for 12th month on chip boom

SEOUL - South Korean exports likely rose for a 12th straight month in May, as a global boom in AI investment drove a surge in chip sales, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

Exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy, a bellwether for global trade, were projected to have risen 48.4% from a year earlier, according to a median forecast of nine economists.

That would be slightly faster than the 48.0% rise in April but weaker than the 50.2% jump in March, which was the strongest since August 1988. Exports have been rising since June 2025 and posting double-digit growth since December.

"It is in line with projection that export growth will accelerate in the second quarter from the first quarter, but the pace is even stronger," said Stephen Lee, an economist at Meritz Securities in Seoul.

In the first 20 days of this month, exports jumped 64.8% from a year earlier as semiconductor sales more than trebled.

"The export boom will continue for a significant period of time on the global manufacturing cycle being robust despite high oil prices and the boom in chip exports," said Park Sang-hyun, an economist at iM Securities.

In the survey, imports were projected to have risen 21.5% this month from a year earlier. This would be faster than the 16.7% increase in April and the fastest since August 2022.

Consumer inflation was seen accelerating to 3.0% in May from 2.6% in April, which would be the fastest year-on-year increase since March 2024.

South Korea is scheduled to report trade figures for May on Monday, June 1, at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT).

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 9:02 PM.