South Korea exports set to rise for 12th month on chip boom: Reuters poll

By Jihoon Lee

SEOUL, May 28 (Reuters) - South Korean exports likely rose for a 12th straight month in May, as a ‌global boom in AI investment drove a surge in chip ‌sales, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

Exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy, a bellwether for ​global trade, were projected to have risen 48.4% from a year earlier, according to a median forecast of nine economists.

That would be slightly faster than the 48.0% rise in April but weaker than the 50.2% ‌jump in March, which ⁠was the strongest since August 1988. Exports have been rising since June 2025 and posting double-digit growth since ⁠December.

"It is in line with projection that export growth will accelerate in the second quarter from the first quarter, but the pace is even ​stronger," said ​Stephen Lee, an economist at ​Meritz Securities in Seoul.

In the ‌first 20 days of this month, exports jumped 64.8% from a year earlier as semiconductor sales more than trebled.

"The export boom will continue for a significant period of time on the global manufacturing cycle being robust despite high oil prices and the boom in chip exports," ‌said Park Sang-hyun, an economist at ​iM Securities.

In the survey, imports were projected ​to have risen 21.5% this ​month from a year earlier. This would be ‌faster than the 16.7% increase in ​April and the ​fastest since August 2022.

Consumer inflation was seen accelerating to 3.0% in May from 2.6% in April, which would be the fastest ​year-on-year increase since March ‌2024.

South Korea is scheduled to report trade figures for May ​on Monday, June 1, at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT).

(Reporting by ​Jihoon Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)