South Korea's terms of trade rose for the 12th consecutive month in March, as exports have shown signs of a strong recovery, central bank data showed Thursday.

The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of trade terms -- increased 3.6 percent last month from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the 12th straight month of an on-year rise since April last year, when the trade terms logged the first on-year hike in over two years on low oil prices amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The figure is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. It shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports. The base year is 2015, with a benchmark index of 100.

Last month, the index for customs-cleared export prices went up 11.1 percent from the previous year, marking the fifth straight month of increase.

The index for import prices rose 7.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the data. (Yonhap)