South Korea's exports to China continued to shrink from a year earlier in May, tying the record streak of 11 months of decrease, industry data showed Thursday.

Outbound shipments to China came to US$9.93 billion won last month, down 9.1 percent from the same month last year, according to the data from the Korea International Trade Association.


The decline apparently contributed to a 6 percent on-year drop in the country's overall exports. China by far is the world's single largest importer of South Korean products, accounting for nearly one fourth of the country's total exports.

South Korea's overall exports have fallen every single month since the start of 2015.

The on-year decline also marked the 11th consecutive month of drop in shipments to China, tying the record shrinking streak posted between October 2008 and August 2009.

The ongoing streak, however, is far more serious than the previous record in its scope, KITA officials noted.

In the first five months of the year, shipments to China plunged 15 percent on-year, greatly outpacing a 5.6 percent drop in 2015 and the record annual decline of 12 percent posted in 1998.

The continuing drop in exports to China was attributed to China's own sagging exports, along with its sluggish local consumption.

In the January-May period, shipments of South Korean semiconductors tumbled 19.1 percent on-year to some $9.15 billion, apparently reflecting a cut in China's own exports and domestic sales of information-technology products that use South Korean parts.

Shipments of display panels plunged 23.1 percent over the cited period, with exports of automobile parts and computers falling 11.4 percent and 11.5 percent on-year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the KITA said the country's exports to the United States slipped 3.2 percent on-year in the five-month period ending May 31, while shipments to Vietnam spiked 10.8 percent. (Yonhap)