Price or Volume

🧩One rate, two stories#

Semiconductors 209%, the rest 20%

Korea's industry ministry announced August exports up 68.7% and printed two further figures side by side: semiconductors at 209% and non semiconductor items at 20%. The headline rate is what those two look like once mixed. Depending on which you take, the same month reads as explosive or as steady. Splitting by product comes first.

Semiconductors at $46.65 billion#

Three straight months above $40 billion

August semiconductor exports were $46.65 billion, up 209.0% and a fresh all time high. The ministry put it down to expanding capital spending by hyperscalers such as Google and Amazon keeping AI infrastructure demand firm. The monthly ranking runs $46.7 billion in August 2026 first, $44.8 billion in June second, $41.0 billion in July third.

Computers at $6.24 billion#

Where a 419.5% rate comes from

Computer exports hit $6.24 billion, up 419.5% and the highest monthly figure on record. The release ties that to the continued rise in NAND prices, the core component in enterprise SSDs. Wireless communication devices came in at $1.88 billion, up 21.2% for a tenth straight monthly gain. The wilder the rate, the more often it is tied to the price of one component.

Items that fell in the same month#

Cars and ships

Car exports were $3.85 billion, down 29.8%. The ministry cited a base effect from major manufacturers moving their summer shutdown from late July last year to early August this year, along with disrupted production. Ships fell 45.9% to $1.69 billion on fewer deliveries. Fourteen of the twenty main export items rose, which leaves six on the other side.

💵What rose in price, what shipped more#

Unit price and volume move apart

Export value is unit price multiplied by volume, so hearing that value rose says nothing about which of the two did. The August release carries several products where the two moved in opposite directions. Separate the lines that grew on price from the lines that genuinely shipped more and next month becomes readable.

Five months of memory prices#

From $35.0 to $46.5

A footnote in the release lists fixed memory prices month by month. DDR5 16Gb went from $35.0 in April through $37.5 in May, $40.0 in June and $45.0 in July to $46.5 in August. NAND 128Gb moved from $24.2 to $30.5 over the same stretch. To hold the semiconductor export figure apart from volume, read that line with it.

Value up 65%, volume down 2%#

Refined products and petrochemicals

Refined petroleum product exports were $6.84 billion, up 65.3%, and petrochemicals $3.86 billion, up 12.2%. The very next clause records volume falling 2.2% for refined products and 7.0% for petrochemicals. Higher crude prices kept unit prices elevated. The refined product export price was $1,143 per tonne, up 69.1%.

The buying side splits the same way#

Crude volume down 3%

August crude oil imports came to $8.3 billion, up 21.2%. Volume fell 3% while the import unit price rose 26%. Korea bought less and paid more. The split between price and volume is not something that only happens on the export side.

📐Compared with what#

The base month sets the rate

A year on year rate takes the same month last year as its denominator. So the figure jumps hardest when it was last year, not this year, that was unusual. The number of working days also differs month to month and is folded into the total. The August release carries figures with both of those stripped out.

$4.47 billion a day#

Why the total and the rate disagree

Average daily exports, adjusted for working days, were $4.47 billion, up 72.5%. That is not the same value as the 68.7% growth in the total. The total carries the number of working days as well, so when the two rates diverge the day count differed. On the daily average, August was the fourth consecutive month above $4 billion.

Last August is still in the number#

A shifted plant shutdown

The first reason given for the fall in car exports is not sales but the calendar. Major manufacturers moved their summer shutdown from late July last year to early August this year, which changed what the month is measured against. Items like this come back with the opposite sign the following month. Check that line before turning one month of change into a trend.

Where the record was set#

The August total ranks third

The all time high in this release's headline is the semiconductor line. Total exports rank June 2026 at $102.0 billion first, July at $99.0 billion second and August at $98.3 billion third. On the daily average, June's $4.53 billion leads and August's $4.47 billion follows. The record in the headline and the ranking in the body point at different things.

⚖️Imports subtracted from exports#

A $34.75 billion surplus

The August trade surplus was $34.75 billion, $28.34 billion wider than a year earlier and the third straight month above $30 billion. The January to August cumulative surplus stands at $202.5 billion, $162.2 billion above the same period last year. A surplus carries how imports moved, not exports alone.

Imports at $63.51 billion#

Energy and the rest at different speeds

August imports were $63.51 billion, up 22.5%. Energy imports were $12.68 billion, up 15.3%, while imports excluding energy were $50.83 billion, up 24.4%. This month the non energy side grew faster. Leave the two mixed and what the country actually bought more of stays blurred.

Chip equipment imports up 117.3%#

Selling more means buying more

Within imports excluding energy, semiconductor equipment came to $2.57 billion, up 117.3%. Non ferrous metals rose 27.6% to $2.19 billion. Making and shipping more means buying the tools and the raw material first. Read exports and imports on separate pages and that link disappears.

🧾These figures are not final#

What was counted, and when

The release is built from Korea Customs Service clearance data. Because it counts the moment goods clear customs, it does not line up with the contract date or the day money moved. The figures are provisional, and one document mixes in numbers covering different periods.

Customs basis through 31 August#

Marked provisional in the text

The closing note states that the release was prepared from Korea Customs Service clearance data on a provisional customs basis through 31 August. Because clearance is the trigger, the same trade lands in the following month if it clears a day late. Quote the figure without the basis and it will not sit beside other statistics.

Final in February 2027#

Revisable until then

The same note says export and import results, and the results for major products, can be revised until the annual statistics are settled in February 2027. The $98.25 billion being quoted now is not a settled value until that point. Reopening the source before reusing last month's figure is the safer habit.

The 25 days under the regional numbers#

One release, different periods

Exports by region rose 119.3% to $24.10 billion for China, 89.3% to $16.50 billion for the United States and 75.4% to $19.09 billion for ASEAN. The product footnotes beneath them, though, count only 1 to 25 August. The 1,040% attached to computers bound for the United States belongs to that window. Carry the figure without the period and it reads as a full month.