South Korea Dec exports fall 9.5%, but rise 6.1% in 2022

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's exports in December fell 9.5% from a year earlier, slightly less than expected in the third consecutive monthly decline, as the global economy cooled and demand from China remained weak, trade ministry data showed on Sunday.

Exports fell to $54.99 billion from $60.73 billion in December 2021, while imports dropped 2.4% to $59.68 billion. This resulted in a trade deficit of $4.69 billion.

South Korea is the first major exporting economy to release trade data each month, providing an early glimpse into the latest state of global demand.

Analysts in a Reuters poll expected exports in December 2022 to fall by a median 10.1% over a year earlier and imports to fall 0.6%. In November, South Korea's exports fell by a revised 14.0% while imports increased by 2.7%.

Exports for full-year 2022 rose 6.1% to $683.9 billion despite the three-month drop, but imports grew 18.9% to $731.2 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $47.2 billion. It was the country's biggest shortfall on record.

(Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Richard Chang)