Vice Chairman Han Jin-hyun of Korea International Trade Association. (Photo: KITA)

Korea’s exports on Oct. 29 this year amounted to $500 billion, marking the fastest they reached the milestone and raising the possibility that exports could reach $600 billion for the year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said exports surpassed $500 billion in 10 months for the first time since the official tabulation started in 1965.

Last year, exports surpassed the $500 billion mark on Nov. 17. Highlighting the tech giants’ success and their challenges ahead, Minister Sung Yun-mo vowed to expand support to upgrade the key industry’s competitiveness during the parliamentary interpellation of the government.

“South Korea’s semiconductor industry should continue to challenge to lead the global market and respond to the changing business environment, amid intensifying competition with rivals in the United States and China.” the policymaker said in a release. “The government will play the role of support tower to help companies lead innovation.”

Last year, total exports reached $573.7 billion, the most-ever, and if the current export trend holds throughout this year, total exports might surpass $600 billion mark, the ministry said.

Officials of the ministry said the exports have been surprisingly brisk despite factors that might impede the activity, such as trade friction between the U.S. and China over high tariffs and the boost in the U.S. interest rates, which shook up the international financial market.

A close look at the trade figures from Jan. to Sept. showed that the exports of SSD increased 39 percent YoY, followed by MCP up 21.5 percent among the major export goods from Korea.

The exports to the countries that signed FTA with Korea such as Vietnam, China, ASEAN, the U.S., the EU, also increased more than average up 8.6 percent much higher than 4.7 percent for all major trading countries with Korea, showing that the FTAs have been a great help to Korea’s exports.

South Korea’s semiconductor exports in 2018 surpassed $100 billion in mid-October on the back of strong global demand, becoming the backbone of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the industry ministry said recently. The outbound shipments of memory chips hit the milestone on Oct. 16, already beating last year’s annual record of $97.9 billion, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.

It took 24 years to increase the amount by tenfold, with accumulated sales surpassing the $1 trillion mark after the government began compiling related trade data in 1977.

Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., the world’s top two chipmakers, have posted robust earnings in 2018 on strong chip demand for mobile devices and servers, but the prospects going forward are not overly rosy amid a slowdown in growth in the new year.

China’s efforts to develop its semiconductor industry to reduce its reliance on imports also poses risks to their market outlook in the mid and long term, market observers say.

The Korea International Trade Association(KITA) was established in 1946 with the objective of advancing the Korean economy through trade, and is currently the largest business organization in Korea with over 70,000 member companies.

Representing the interests of Korea’s global traders, KITA serves a diverse range of roles including: providing hands-on support to trade companies, drawing trade cooperation from the private sector, formulating new trade strategies, nurturing trade professionals and building trade infrastructure.

With a widely established network of 13 domestic offices and 11 overseas branches in major cities, KITA has consolidated its position as a leading business organization dedicated to assisting SMEs in gaining foreign market entry and has actively contributed towards Korea’s recent achievement of 1 trillion dollars in trade volume.