SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export dipped in double figures last month, keeping a downward trend for the 10th consecutive month, a government report showed Tuesday.
Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, diminished 11.7 percent over the year to 44.71 billion U.S. dollars in September, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The outbound shipment continued to slide since December last year on lower export prices for major export items such as semiconductors and petrochemicals.
In terms of volume, the export grew 3.1 percent in September from a year earlier. For the first nine months of this year, the export volume added 0.9 percent.
The daily export averaged 2.18 billion U.S. dollars in September, marking the highest this year.
Import reduced 5.6 percent from a year earlier to 38.74 billion U.S. dollars last month, sending the trade surplus to 5.97 billion U.S. dollars.
It marked the biggest trade surplus this year. The trade balance stayed in black for 92 months in a row.
