By Park Hye Ri and Kim Minji
Export volume last month saw its fifth straight month of growth, surging 16.6% from March last year.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on April 1 said the export amount last month reached USD 53.83 billion to set a record for March.
The tally is also the nation's third-best export performance in any month, trailing only September 2017 with USD 55.12 billion and October 2018 with USD 54.86 billion.
The rate of export increase last month was also the highest since March 2018, and the last time exports saw five straight months of growth was three years ago.
Considering the number of working days, the daily average of export volume was USD 22.4 billion, up a record-high 16.6% for March.
Of the country's top 15 export items, 14 showed positive growth. Intermediary products that had remained stagnant due to the pandemic like general machinery, petroleum goods and fiber saw overseas shipments surge.
Export items showing favorable growth over the pandemic period included semiconductors, cars and biohealth products. Chip exports reached USD 9.51 billion, their second-highest result since November 2018, while biohealth products recorded their 19th straight month of growth.
By region, exports to Korea's three largest export markets all grew, with those to China rising 26%, the U.S. 9.2% and the European Union 36.6%.
Import volume also increased 18.8% to USD 49.65 billion and the resulting trade surplus of USD 4.17 billion marked the country's 11th consecutive month of finishing in the black.
The combined volume of exports and imports last month also hit a record-high USD 100 billion.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo said, "New items like system semiconductors, electric cars and biohealth products achieved high growth and items with poor growth like petroleum goods recovered, so existing major export items showed balanced growth."
hrhr@korea.kr