S Korea's trade surplus down 19.8pc in 2005
Afp, Seoul
South Korea's trade surplus shrank nearly 20 percent year-on-year in 2005 despite record exports due to the rising cost of imported oil and raw materials, the government said Sunday. The surplus totalled 23.5 billion dollars last year, down 19.8 percent from 29.4 billion dollars a year earlier, the ministry of commerce, industry and energy said in a preliminary report. It said customs-cleared exports increased 12.2 percent year-on-year to a record 284.7 billion dollars last year, when imports rose 16.3 percent to 261.2 billion dollars. The country registered double-digit growth in exports for the third straight year in 2005, after 31 percent growth in 2004 and 19.3 percent in 2003, the ministry said. Autos, semiconductors, machinery, petrochemicals, ships and steel contributed to the strong growth in exports while raw materials, largely oil, led the increase in imports. Oil purchases cost 66.2 billion dollars last year, accounting for 25 percent of the country's total imports, according to the ministry report.
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