South Korea's exports shrank 3.4 percent on-year in February, but the trade surplus surged to a new monthly high as imports dropped at a faster rate, the government said Sunday.

The country's outbound shipments came to US$41.46 billion last month while imports plunged 19.6 percent on-year to US$33.8 billion, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The trade surplus came to $7.66 billion, the highest amount ever for the country.

February marked the 37th consecutive month of surplus.

The drop in exports was largely attributed to a cut in the number of working days as the traditional three-day Lunar New Year's Day break fell in February this year, unlike last year when it fell in January.

"Considering that the daily average amount of exports rose 9.3 percent to some $2.18 billion from about $2 billion the same month last year, the country's exports are growing steady," the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry noted the cut in global oil prices also contributed to the fall in exports as it also pulled down the global price of petroleum and petrochemical products, major export items for South Korea.

In February, shipments of petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel, plunged 44.2 percent on-year to $2.17 billion while those of petrochemical products also tumbled over 24 percent to $2.9 billion.

Outbound shipments of automobiles dropped 16.3 percent on-year to $3.29 billion while shipments of mobile communication devices, including smartphones, slipped 6.4 percent to $2.1 billion.

On the other hand, exports of ships spiked 127.2 percent on-year to $5.47 billion with shipments of semiconductors, the country's single largest export item, growing 6.9 percent to $4.78 billion.

By country, shipments to the United States gained 7.4 percent from a year earlier while shipments to China, the world's largest importer of South Korean products, shrank 7.7 percent.

The tumble in imports was largely attributed to the drop in global oil prices.

In the first 20 days of February, South Korea's imports of raw materials, which account for over 50 percent of total imports, plunged 29.7 percent from the same period last year.

Imports of oil alone tumbled 52.1 percent on-year to some $3.85 billion February as the average price of Dubai crude, which accounts for over 80 percent of the country's overall oil imports, plunged 54.8 percent to $49.1 per barrel last month from $108.6 in February 2014, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)