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According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) Last month, Korea's exports saw the highest monthly growth in 67 months, setting a new record for total export volume.

According to the 'Trade Indices and Terms of Trade in September 2017' data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on October 24, the estimate for last month's export volume index was 162.70, up 19.8 percent year-on-year.

Last month's rate of increase was the highest since the 22.2% recorded in February 2012.

The year-on-year change in export volume index has remained positive growth for the 11 months since November 2016.

The monthly export volume has reached a record high, with the export volume index rising 7.9 percent from the previous record (150.77) in March.

Gwon Cheo-yun of BOK's prices and statistics team explained, "Electric and electronics devices, as well as chemical products made a significant contribution to the overall increase in exports."

The export volume index for electric and electronics devices jumped by 16 percent from a year earlier.

In particular, semiconductors are witnessing a steep increase.

Integrated circuits that contain dynamic random-access memories (DRAM), flash memories, or system chips surged by 31.6%.

Automobiles are also seeing a rise in exports, along with transportation devices (26.8%), chemical products (23.0%), general machinery (26.8%), and coal and petroleum products (19.1%).

Passenger car exports jumped by 59 percent year-on-year. This was because labor strikes had caused the export volume in September 2016 to be lower than usual, BOK explained.

The export price index (based on USD) was 143.37, a 29.8 percent increase from September 2016.

The rate of increase was the highest in 6 years and 8 months since the 30.7 percent in January 2011.

The increase in export volume is thought to be a cause and effect of rising oil prices.

Import volume and prices also saw an increase.

The import volume index grew by 14.9 percent to 138.31.

General machinery (48.7%), electric and electronic devices (28.1%) and precision devices (26.4%) also saw high rates of growth.

The import price index rose by 23.7 percent to 118.96.

The income terms of trade index, which measures the value of exports measured in terms of imports, rose by 0.6 percent to 102.45.

The net barter terms of trade index, which indicates the ratio between prices of exports and imports, grew by 0.6 percent to 102.45.

Meanwhile, BOK's trade indices do not cover shipbuilding, weapons, aircraft, art, and other industries for which it is difficult to keep track of prices.

nojae@yna.co.kr

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