EL7.AI
Macro EconomyMedium•2 November 2026•
2 min read

South Korea’s Exports Jump 93.7% in October to $115.276 Billion

Key Facts

1South Korean exports reached $115.276 billion in October, up 93.7% from October 2025.
2Average daily exports, adjusted for working days, rose 76.1% to $5.24 billion in October.
3Cumulative exports totaled $929.999 billion during January–October, up 60.6%.
4The trade balance posted a surplus of $42.5 billion in October.

South Korea’s exports rose 93.7% year over year in October to $115.276 billion, compared with $59.512 billion in the same month of 2025, according to data from the Korea Customs Service published via Korea.kr. The increase exceeded the Reuters poll average forecast of 93.2%, Reuters reported. October’s total was the second-highest monthly figure on record, after September’s $121.050 billion. So despite the large annual increase, exports fell from the previous month’s level. The figures reflect a surge in shipments tied to demand for chips and AI server infrastructure, alongside growth in exports from other sectors.

Adjusting for working days tempers the impact of the overall year-over-year comparison: average daily exports, adjusted for working days, rose 76.1% to $5.24 billion in October from $2.98 billion in October 2025, according to the customs service. Reuters noted that there were more working days than a year earlier because of differences in the timing of the Chuseok holiday, which helped inflate the overall increase. Even so, the annual jump was the strongest since January 1974, the agency reported. October’s increase also exceeded September’s 83.7% gain, according to a Reuters report. These comparisons put the record figure in the context of the calendar effect, while daily export growth remained strong.

The ministry linked the continued strong performance to expanding investment in server infrastructure and rising demand for server-grade SSD storage as AI services spread. This indicates that the export boom was not limited to semiconductors, but also extended to equipment tied to expanding computing capacity. Monthly computer data therefore remains a documented indicator of the broadening demand for AI infrastructure.

Over the first ten months of 2026, South Korean exports totaled $929.999 billion, up 60.6% from the same period a year earlier, according to the customs service. The cumulative total shows that the increase was not limited to October, although that month’s pace was much higher than growth since the start of the year. Meanwhile, imports rose 36% in October to $72.775 billion. The trade balance posted a surplus of $42.5 billion, below September’s surplus of $49.972 billion. The gap between export and import growth kept the balance in surplus, while its value narrowed compared with the previous month.