South Korea's exports rose 24.6 percent on-year in the first 10 days of May on robust global demand for semiconductors, data showed Wednesday.

Outbound shipments reached $18.58 billion in the April 1-10 period, compared with $14.91 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

Per-day exports advanced 16.3 percent on-year to $2.48 billion.

Imports added 11.3 percent on-year to $18.4 billion during the period, resulting in a trade surplus of $200 million.

Exports, a key economic growth engine, have been recovering since late last year after a yearlong downturn.

In August, exports rose 11.4 percent on-year to $57.9 billion, the 11th consecutive monthly gain, on the back of strong demand for semiconductors, government data showed.

Strong sales of semiconductors led the overall export growth.

Chip exports jumped 38.8 percent to $3.47 billion during the 10 days of this month.

Semiconductor exports accounted for 18.7 percent of the country's total exports during the cited period, up 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier amid an industry cycle upturn.

Auto exports advanced 12.8 percent to $1.58 billion, and sales of petroleum products gained 5.4 percent to $1.51 billion.

Sales of steel products climbed 21 percent to $1.29 billion, and those of automotive parts increased 24.8 percent to $644 million.

By nation, shipments to China added 16.3 percent to $3.95 billion, and exports to the United States surged 24.6 percent to $3.23 billion.

Exports to the European Union jumped 47.4 percent to $2.1 billion, and those to Vietnam rose 13.3 percent to $1.67 billion.

Shipments to Japan went up 12.2 percent to $829 million, and exports to Taiwan and Hong Kong rose 79.2 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively.

The government expected exports to advance 9 percent this year to reach a record high of over $700 billion. (Yonhap)