South Korea's exports moved up 9.8 percent on-year in the first 20 days of September due to a higher number of working days, but shipments of chips and petroleum products remained sluggish, data showed Thursday.

The country's outbound shipments reached $36 billion in the Sept. 1-20 period, compared with $32.7 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service.

Imports fell 1.5 percent on-year to $36.4 billion during the period, resulting in a trade deficit of $500 million.

The number of working days came to 15.5 over the period, up from 13 tallied a year earlier.

South Korea's exports fell for the 11th consecutive month in August due mainly to weak demand for semiconductors and petroleum products, but the country reported a trade surplus for the third straight month.

Exports have been on a steady decline since October last year amid aggressive monetary tightening by major economies to curb high inflation and an economic slowdown. It is the first time since 2020 that exports have declined for 11 months in a row. (Yonhap)