South Korea's exports to rise for ninth month on chip, US demand: Reuters poll

By Jihoon Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's exports are expected to have risen for a ninth consecutive month in June, with semiconductor sales to the U.S. leading the increase, although the growth rate likely slowed on calendar effects, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

Exports in June from Asia's fourth-largest economy are forecast to have risen 6.3% from a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 11 economists in the survey.

That would be weaker than an annual rise of 11.5% in May and the slowest since March, but most economists attributed it to unfavourable calendar effects. There were 21.5 working days in June this year, compared with 23 in the same month last year.

South Korea is the first major exporting economy to report monthly trade figures each month, providing an early glimpse into the state of global demand.