South Korea’s exports fell in June for the ninth consecutive month

South Korea’s exports fell more than predicted in June, extending a nine-month decline, while the trade balance shifted to a surplus for the first time since early last year.

According to trade ministry data released on Saturday, Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s overseas sales declined 6.0% year on year to $54.24 billion in June, following a 15.2% loss in May.

It was worse than the 3.0% drop predicted by Reuters, but it was still the second-lowest percentage loss for the current slump that began in October.

Imports dropped 11.7% to $53.11 billion, compared to a 14.0% drop the previous month and an 11.0% drop predicted by analysts.

As a consequence, the country reported a trade surplus of $1.13 billion in June, following 15 months of trade deficits in the export-dependent economy./Reuters