S. Korea’s trade terms improve for 10th month in March

SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s terms of trade rose for the 10th consecutive month in March as import costs fell sharply while export prices gained, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The country’s net terms-of-trade index for goods — a gauge of overall trade terms — improved 5.9 percent last month from a year ago, following the previous month’s 4.6 percent rise, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.

The index shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports, with a lower figure meaning worse trade terms.

Import prices fell 13.2 percent on-year last month, while export prices rose 1.1 percent.

It is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices.

The country’s exports moved up for the sixth consecutive month in March on the back of the robust performance of chips.

Outbound shipments gained 3.1 percent on-year to US$56.5 billion last month, while imports decreased 12.3 percent on-year to $52.2 billion last month, resulting in a trade surplus of $4.28 billion.

South Korea has been maintaining a trade surplus for 10 consecutive months.