For exporters, the won's gain means decreased income as dollar-denominated earnings from their overseas businesses fall in value when repatriated into the local currency.

Import prices also declined 2 percent last month from the previous month due to a fall in oil prices.

Year-on-year, however, export and import prices both jumped, the central bank said.

Export prices rose 4.9 percent in March from a year earlier, while import prices jumped 6.9 percent during the same period, the BOK said.

The price of Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, dropped to an average of $51.20 in March from $54.39 a month earlier, a central bank official said.

South Korea's exports came to US$48.9 billion in March, up 13.7 percent from $43 billion tallied a year earlier. (Yonhap)