South Korea Dec exports seen up for fifteenth month in row, however momentum slowing – Reuters ballot

By Jihoon Lee and Cynthia Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s export development is predicted to have risen in December for a fifteenth straight month, however analysts really feel momentum might average within the yr forward as considerations about doable U.S. tariffs warmth up, a Reuters ballot confirmed on Friday.

Outbound shipments from Asia’s fourth largest economic system are forecast to have risen 4.0% in December from a yr earlier, after a acquire of 1.4% in November, the median discovering in a survey of 10 economists.

That will be the fifteenth successive month of annual export development however analysts see the speed slowing within the coming yr as demand for South Korean items is predicted to weaken, aside from semiconductors, analysts stated.

“Commerce coverage uncertainties heightened since Donald Trump was elected in the US proceed to pose dangers for exporters,” stated Ha Keon-hyeong, an analyst at Shinhan Securities.

“It is a part of the explanation why some producers are slicing down on manufacturing.”

The U.S. president-elect has pledged to impose massive tariffs on imports from main buying and selling companions together with China, South Korea’s greatest buying and selling accomplice.

The primary main exporting economic system to report commerce figures every month, South Korea is ready to subject December month-to-month knowledge on January 1 at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT).

“Automotive manufacturing in December was hit by labor union strikes and export momentum on the whole is weakening, aside from chips and data know-how merchandise,” stated Stephen Lee, chief economist at Meritz Securities Analysis Heart.

The survey additionally forecast imports to have risen 4.6% in December, after November’s fall of two.4%.

The survey’s median estimate of the commerce steadiness got here in at a surplus of $4.21 billion.

(Polling by Susobhan Sarkar in Bengaluru and Jihoon Lee in Seoul; Modifying by Clarence Fernandez)