South Korea's exports rose for the fifth straight month in March on the back of brisk sales of chips, displays and cosmetics, the trade ministry said Saturday.

Outbound shipments came to US$48.9 billion last month, up 13.7 from $43 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The country's exports have been on a steady rise since November on an uptick in oil prices. Last month marked the first time sinc December 2011 that exports have risen for five consecutive months.

Imports soared 26.9 percent on-year to $42.3 billion in March.

Last month's trade surplus came to $6.6 billion, marking 62 straight months of a surplus. (Yonhap)