S.Korea's exports reduce in Jan. on less working days

South Korea's exports reduced last month due to less working days caused by the Lunar New Year holidays that fell on late January, a government report showed Saturday.

Exports, which account for around half of the economy, fell 0.2 percent from a year earlier to 45.58 billion U.S. dollars in January after growing 7 percent in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The exports declined for the first time in three months as the Lunar New Year holidays moved from February last year to January this year. The move reduced the month's business days by two days.

Excluding the holiday effect, the exports showed an upbeat picture. Daily average exports in January came in at 2.07 billion dollars, up 8.9 percent from the same month of last year.

Imports declined 0.9 percent on year to 44.85 billion dollars last month, sending the trade surplus to 735 million dollars in January. The figure was down from a 3.65 billion dollar surplus in December, but the trade balance stayed in the black for 24 straight months.

The ministry said that the country's exports got off to a solid start despite external negative factors such as the weak Japanese yen and signs of financial crisis in some emerging economies.

South Korea's exports to Japan plunged 19.8 percent in January from a year earlier as the so-called Abenomics, advocated by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, led to the yen's continued depreciation.

The South Korean won surged 23.6 percent against the Japanese yen last year, the highest gain in 15 years. The surge caused weak price competitiveness of local exporters compared with Japanese rivals.

Currencies of some emerging economies with weak economic fundamentals, including Argentina, Turkey, Russia and South Africa, plunged recently against the dollar due to concerns over the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering of its quantitative easing.

The Fed has decided to reduce its monthly bond purchases by 10 billion dollars to 65 billion dollars starting from this month after cutting back on the asset purchase by the same size last month. The tapering boosted the dollar value excessively versus some emerging economies, which have weak fundamentals.

The ministry, however, noted that the country's exports were expected to show an upbeat picture in accordance with recovery in the United States and Europe, forecasting that the impact of the Fed's tapering on the economy was expected to be limited.

Exports to European and Southeast Asian countries jumped 24.7 percent and 9.9 percent each in January, leading last month's daily export gain.

Shipments to China, South Korea's No.1 trading partner, inched up 0.8 percent amid worries about the sluggish growth of the world ' s second-largest economy.

Chip exports surged 15.1 percent in January from a year earlier amid higher memory chip prices. Shipments of telecommunication devices, including smartphones, jumped 15.1 percent last month as presence of local makers, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, continued to expand in the global market.

Auto exports decreased 1.1 percent due to less working days, while shipments of LCD panels and oil products slid 13.8 percent and 5.6 percent respectively amid lower product prices.

Meanwhile, natural gas imports jumped 17.8 percent on year in January amid stronger demand for the gas used in the power plant and household heating. Coal imports increased 7 percent last month, but crude oil imports fell 4.4 percent.