South Korea's exports rose 25.8 percent in 2021 from the previous year to reach an all-time high on the back of solid demand for chips and petroleum products amid a global economic recovery, the industry ministry said Saturday.

Outbound shipments stood at US$644.54 billion last year, compared with $512.5 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It marked the highest annual figure since the country began compiling trade related data in 1956. The previous record was set in 2018, when the figure came to $604.9 billion.

The country's exports surpassed the $100 million mark for the first time in 1964 and $10 billion in 1977, and reached the $100 billion milestone in 1995 and $600 billion in 2018.

Imports spiked 31.5 percent on-year to $615.05 billion in 2021, resulting in a trade surplus of $29.49 billion. It marked the 13th consecutive year that the country's exports exceeded imports, according to the ministry.

The total trade volume also hit a yearly record of $1.26 trillion last year, and South Korea became the eighth-largest trading nation in the world. The country had been the world's ninth for about the previous decade.

For December, monthly exports increased 18.3 percent on-year to reach a monthly high of $60.74 billion.

Imports climbed 37.4 percent on-year last month to $61.32 billion, resulting in a monthly trade deficit of $590 million, data showed.

Exports of the country's major items, such as semiconductors and petrochemicals, logged a double-digit growth last year, to lead the overall gains, the ministry said.

Outbound shipments to nine major regions all grew in 2021, with the yearly exports to China, the United States, the European Union, the ASEAN nations and India reaching a record high, it added. (Yonhap)