South Korea's exports increased 4.5 percent in the first 10 days of May from a year earlier on brisk overseas sales of petroleum products and semiconductors, latest customs data showed Thursday.

Total outbound shipments reached $9.7 billion during the cited period, up from $9.3 billion tallied over the same period last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service.

The increase was led by a 117.8-percent on-year gain in exports of petroleum goods and a 43-percent surge for chips.

Exports to China climbed 3.2 percent over the 10-day period from a year earlier and those to the European Union jumped 11.5 percent on-year, while shipments to the United States sank 10 percent on-year.

Meanwhile, the data showed that imports rose 12.2 percent to $11.3 billion over the cited period as imports of chip-manufacturing equipment skyrocketed 321.9 percent on-year and those of crude oil added 7.1 percent.

Consequently, the country logged a trade deficit of $1.6 billion, doubling from the previous year's loss of $805 million.

Asia's fourth-largest economy saw its outbound shipments make a turnaround from a two-year slump in November last year on the back of recovering world trade and rising oil prices.

Last month, exports soared to a nearly seven-year high of 13.7 percent to mark the sixth consecutive month of on-year growth. (Yonhap)