SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's exports in January had a smaller fall than expected in annual terms, government estimates showed on Sunday, but the data fell short of quelling worries over global demand while imports were at a more than 5-year low.
Exports in January edged down 0.4 percent from a year earlier to $45.37 billion (30 billion pounds), and imports dropped 11.0 percent to $39.84 billion to result in a $5.53 billion surplus, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
Imports fell for a fourth straight month, posting their steepest drop in January since a 15.8 percent decline seen in October 2009, most likely due to falling global oil prices.
This compared to a median forecast for declines of 4.5 percent for exports and 5.0 percent in imports in a Reuters survey of 13 analysts.
"Exports in January were very weak when you take into account the fact that there were more working days this year than last year," said Park Sang-hyun, chief economist at HI Investment & Securities in Seoul.
"The Bank of Korea needs to deliver a big interest rate cut to keep the won from appreciating fast in the aftermath of policy easing in many parts of the world including in Europe."
The average export value per working day stood at $1.93 billion in January, 6.7 percent less than $2.07 billion in January last year, Thomson Reuters calculations showed.
Weak exports contributed to a sharp easing of growth in the fourth quarter of last year, hit by a slowing China, falling prices of chemicals and electronics goods and increasing global competition in key export goods such as handsets.
China is South Korea's largest export market, taking about one-quarter of total shipments by the smaller neighbour, followed by the United States and the European Union. By product, electronics goods account for more than one-fifth of South Korea's total exports, followed by chemical products and industrial machinery.
Asia's fourth-largest economy grew just 0.4 percent in the October-December period on sequential terms, slowing from a 0.9 percent rise in the prior quarter and matching a six-year low.
The government will release trade breakdowns by destination later on Sunday.