In the first quarter of this year, Korea's exports ranked fifth in the world for the first time, ahead of key competitors Japan and Italy.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on the 6th, based on the World Trade Organization (WTO) goods export rankings for January–February this year, Korea recorded $133.2 billion (+31.3%), placing fifth after China, the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. It was the highest growth rate among the top seven countries. During the same period, Japan posted $120.3 billion (+8.5%) and Italy reached $118.3 billion (+11.0%).
Although the WTO has not released official statistics, it was confirmed that Korea surpassed Japan for the full first quarter when including March results. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said Korea's first-quarter exports were tallied at $219.9 billion, up 37.8% from a year earlier. During the same period, the figure exceeded Japan ($189.5 billion) by more than $30 billion. This is the first time on a first-quarter basis that Korea has overtaken Japan.
Semiconductors are the key driver of strong exports. With increased investment in artificial intelligence (AI) servers and rising memory prices, semiconductor exports surged 139% in the first quarter to $78.5 billion. Petroleum products (+24%), computers (+169%), wireless communications (+40%) and cosmetics (+21.5%) also posted broad-based growth.
The trade balance posted a surplus of $50.4 billion in the first quarter, improving by $43.7 billion from the same period last year.
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said, "Conditions are not favorable due to the Middle East war and uncertainty over U.S. tariff policy, but we will support the export uptrend to continue through the end of the year through measures for trade finance and logistics stabilization."