S Korea sees $3.79 bln trade surplus in Oct.

South Korea posted 3.79 billion U.S. dollars of trade surplus in October, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a report on Sunday.

The figure stood in the black for the ninth consecutive month, with the total trade surplus during the first ten months of 2009 amounting to 34.58 billion dollars, the ministry said.

But it slightly fell 0.92 billion dollars compared to 4.71 billion a month earlier mainly due to week imports, it added.

The country saw exports post 34.02 billion dollars last month, down 8.3 percent on-year, while imports falling by 16.3 percent on-year, to 30.23 billion dollars over the same period, the ministry said.

In exports, display panels and semiconductors saw a surge of 38.8 percent and 36.8 percent on year respectively, and overseas shipments of vehicles and mobile communications also logged a 24.1 percent and 30.1 percent growth respectively over the same period, while consumer electronics and ships fell 5.4 percent and 9.2 percent respectively, it said.

In imports, the country purchased 52.4 million barrels of crude oil last month from 48.7 million barrels a month earlier, while imports of consumer goods increased 0.9 percent on-year from minus 6.2 percent in September.

The ministry forecast that the trade surplus trend will be maintained in November, and if it kept this rate, the country's trade surplus is likely to stand above a record high of 40 billion U.S. dollars by the end of this year.

Source:Xinhua