South Korean exports marked the smallest decline in eight months in December with a rebound in shipments to China heralding a much-awaited recovery in global trade next year.
Exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy, seen as a bellwether for the region’s technology supply chain, fell 5.2 per cent in the final month of 2019 from a year earlier, extending the decline to a 13th consecutive month.
But it was the best performance since a 2.1 per cent fall last April and almost half the average rate of decline seen over the past six months amid signs of an end to the cyclical downturn for the memory chip market and hopes that Washington and Beijing will complete a “phase one” deal and move towards ending their trade war.