South Korea exports rise at fastest in 7 months before higher US tariffs kick in
Exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy, an early bellwether for global trade, rose 5.9 per cent from the same month last year to US$60.82 billion, trade data showed on Friday, higher than the 4.3 per cent increase in June and the strongest since December 2024.
The figure beat a median 4.6 per cent rise forecast for July in a Reuters poll of economists, who also noted signs of front-loading shipments ahead of an Aug 1 deadline for higher US tariffs.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday imposing reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10 per cent to 41 per cent on US imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations.
With South Korea, Trump announced a trade deal on Wednesday setting tariffs at 15 per cent, lower than a threatened 25 per cent but higher than the current 10 per cent, which officials, companies and economists cheered for reducing uncertainty over the trade environment.
'Despite the trade deal, demand is still expected to weaken from August as overall tariff rates will increase,' said Lee Jeong Hoon, an economist at Eugene Investment Securities.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign Up
Sign Up
'Demand for artificial intelligence, however, will continue to be strong, while that for automobiles is growing in non-US markets.'
A separate business survey showed on Friday South Korea's factory activity contracted for the sixth straight month in July, as uncertainty over US tariffs weighed on output and orders.
The trade-reliant economy grew at the fastest pace in more than a year in the second quarter, buoyed by rebounding consumer spending and a surge in exports driven by demand for technology.
Exports of semiconductors jumped 39.3 per cent in July, the biggest annual increase since October 2024, while cars rose by a five-month high of 8.8 per cent on robust demand in non-US markets such as Europe. Ship exports surged 107.6 per cent.
By destination, shipments to the US rose 1.4 per cent, after three straight months of declines, as growing technology demand offset the impact of Trump's tariffs on steel and auto parts.
Exports to China fell 3.0 per cent, while those to the European Union rose 8.7 per cent.
Imports rose 0.7 per cent in July to US$54.21 billion, compared with a gain of 4.3 per cent in June and 2.0 per cent expected by economists.
The monthly trade balance stood at a surplus of US$6.61 billion, narrower than the previous month's US$9.08 billion, which was the biggest since September 2018. REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
5 minutes ago
- Straits Times
US to ease human rights criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia, WaPo reports
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox WASHINGTON - The Trump administration plans to scale back criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia over human rights, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing drafts of the State Department's annual human rights reports. The draft reports related to those countries were significantly shorter than the ones prepared by the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden, who left office in January, when Donald Trump assumed the presidency. The State Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on Wednesday, has not yet officially released this year's reports, which cover last year's incidents. Usually, these annual reports are released around March or April each year. "The 2024 Human Rights Report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancies, increases report readability and is more responsive to the legislative mandates that underpin the report," a State Department official briefing reporters on Wednesday said. "The report is not meant to be a every single human rights abuse that's happened in every single country. It's meant to be illustrative and a broad picture of what the conditions of human rights are on the ground in each country." REUTERS
Business Times
5 minutes ago
- Business Times
Stocks to watch: DBS, UOB, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Sats, Venture Corp, Straits Trading
[SINGAPORE] The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their securities on Thursday (Aug 7): DBS : The local bank on Thursday announced that its net profit for the three months ended Jun 30 rose 1 per cent to S$2.82 billion, from S$2.79 billion in the same year-ago period. Net interest income was higher on strong deposit growth and balance sheet hedging; fee income and treasury customer sales rose to their second-highest quarterly levels. The earnings beat the S$2.79 billion consensus forecast slightly in a Bloomberg survey of six analysts. The lender declared an ordinary dividend of S$0.60 per share and a capital return dividend of S$0.15 per share for the period. This brings the quarter's total dividend payout to S$0.75 per share, compared with the S$0.54 in the year-ago period. Its shares closed 1.3 per cent or S$0.61 higher at S$48.85 on Wednesday. UOB : The lender announced on Thursday that its Q2 net profit was at S$1.34 billion , a 6 per cent decline from S$1.43 billion in the same period a year before, as net interest income eased on lower margins. This result missed the S$1.48 billion consensus estimate in a Bloomberg poll of six analysts. The bank declared an interim dividend of S$0.85 per share for the half year ended Jun 30, a decrease from S$0.88 in the year prior. In addition, a second tranche of UOB's S$0.50 per share special dividend will be paid out to shareholders. Net interest income for the quarter also fell 3 per cent to S$2.34 billion, as net interest margin declined 14 basis points to 1.91 per cent, from 2.05 per cent the year before. Shares of UOB closed up 0.2 per cent or S$0.08 at S$36.45 on Wednesday. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding : The mainboard-listed shipbuilder on Wednesday reported net profit of 4.2 billion yuan (S$752.6 million) for the six months ended Jun 30, a record-high for the group and a 36.7 per cent surge from 3.1 billion yuan for the same period the year prior. Revenue declined 1.3 per cent year on year for H1 FY2025, to 12.9 billion yuan, however. The company's net profit margin rose to 32.5 per cent, from 23.4 per cent in the same year-ago period, and earnings per share increased to 1.0602 yuan from 0.7742 yuan. No dividend was declared for the period. The counter closed 2.3 per cent or S$0.06 up at S$2.63 on Wednesday, before the results were posted. Sats : The ground handler on Wednesday issued S$300 million worth of 2.45 per cent fixed-rate notes under its US$3 billion multicurrency dept issuance programme, established in November 2023. Due in 2032, the notes are expected to be on the official list of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading with effect from 9 am on Aug 7. Sats shares finished Wednesday 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$3.21, before the announcement. Venture Corporation : The technology solutions provider on Wednesday posted a 2.3 per increase in net profit to S$57.1 million for Q2 ended June, a rise from S$55.9 million in the previous quarter. Revenue increased 4.7 per cent to S$645.3 million for the period, from S$616.6 million in Q1. The increase was driven by growth across most of its technology domains. For H1 2025, however, the group had an 8.6 per cent dip in net profit to about S$113 million, from S$123.7 million the year prior. Shares of Venture Corp closed at S$12.72, down 0.8 per cent or S$0.10, ahead of its results release. The Straits Trading Company : The investment company expects to report a net loss for the six months ended June, compared to a net profit for the year-ago period, it said in a Wednesday profit guidance announcement. This is mainly due to losses from its share of an associate, amid adverse changes in fair value of certain UK investment properties, and losses arising from the remeasurement of exchangeable bonds. The group said its overall business and financial position remain healthy, with sufficient liquidity to meet its operational and financial commitments. The counter ended Wednesday 1.2 per cent or S$0.02 higher at S$1.65. CSE Global : The company secured S$211.3 million of new orders in the second quarter ended June, a 3.8 per cent increase from the year-ago period. This was led by the electrification business, as the segment's order intake grew 5.5 per cent on the year to S$94.8 million for the quarter. On a half-year basis, the group's order intake dropped 3.2 per cent for the first half to S$366.7 million. The counter ended Wednesday 0.8 per cent or S$0.005 higher at S$0.675, before the announcement. Vin's Holdings : Its former chief financial officer (CFO) Yat Wan Thiam resigned from the role on Wednesday, which was her last day of employment at the company, one day after the automative group said it expects to report a net loss for its first half ended June. The group said Yat resigned due to 'personal family commitments' and that its sponsor RHB Bank is satisfied that there are no other material reasons for her resignation. The finance team will oversee the finance and accounting functions of the group and its subsidiaries as Vin's Holdings searches for a new CFO. Shares of Vin's Holdings finished Wednesday 10.3 per cent or S$0.03 lower at S$0.26, before the news.
Business Times
5 minutes ago
- Business Times
SoftBank's AI investment spree to be in focus on at Q1 earnings
[TOKYO] When Japan's SoftBank Group reports earnings on Thursday, its mammoth investments in artificial intelligence companies are set to take the spotlight. Analysts and investors are keen for updates on how they will be financed, the timeline for returns to materialise and whether assets will be sold to fund the new projects. SoftBank has embarked on its biggest spending spree since the launch of its Vision Funds in 2017 and 2019. It is leading a US$40 billion funding round for ChatGPT maker OpenAI. SoftBank has until the end of the year to fund its US$22.5 billion portion, although the remainder has been subscribed, according to a source familiar with the matter. It is also leading the financing for the Stargate project - a US$500 billion scheme to develop data centres in the United States, part of its effort to position itself as the 'organiser of the industry,' founder Masayoshi Son said in June. SoftBank has yet to release details on what kinds of returns its financing of the Stargate project could generate. The extent of third-party investment will determine what other financing tools, such as bank loans and debt issuance, it may have to deploy. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up In July, SoftBank raised US$4.8 billion by selling off a portion of its holding in T-Mobile. 'If other sources of capital are less supportive, SoftBank could look to asset-backed finance, which is collateralised by equity in other holdings,' Macquarie analyst Paul Golding said. The Japanese conglomerate is expected to post a net profit of 127.6 billion yen (S$1.11 billion) in the April-June quarter, according to the average estimate of three analysts polled by LSEG. That would mark SoftBank's second consecutive quarter of profit and follow its first annual profit in four years when it was helped by a strong performance by its telecom holdings and higher valuations for its later-stage startups. Its results are, however, typically very volatile and difficult to estimate due to manifold investments, many of which are not listed. SoftBank's performance in exiting from investments and distributing profits has been patchy of late. The Vision Funds had made a cumulative investment loss of US$475 million as of end-March. That said, 13 of 18 analysts have a 'buy' or 'strong buy' rating for SoftBank's stock, according to LSEG. Although there is some concern in the market that AI-related valuations have become bubbly, they continue to climb. OpenAI is in early-stage discussions about a stock sale that would allow employees to cash out and could value the company at about US$500 billion, according to the source - a huge jump from its current valuation of US$300 billion. REUTERS
