S.Korea April export growth to hit 14-mth low; inflation near 11-yr high: Reuters poll

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Jihoon Leep

pSEOUL Reuters – South Koreas exports are expected to have posted their slowest growth in 14 months in April while consumer inflation is seen hitting a near 11year high, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pOutbound shipments were seen rising 14.5 from a year earlier after a revised 18.2 gain in March, according to a median forecast of 13 economists, marking the slowest growth since February 2021.p

p“South Koreas export growth is set to slow on the back of a very high base effect and slowing growth momentum in China,” said Lloyd Chan, senior economist at Oxford Economics. p

pChina, the biggest trading partner for the smaller neighbour, continued to enforce heavy lockdown measures in major cities in April to fight a surge in Omicron coronavirus cases under the “zero COVID19” policy.p

pDuring the first 20 days of this month, South Koreas exports grew 16.9 over the same period a year ago, while shipments to China saw a much smaller increase of 1.8.p

pImports for the whole month were seen outpacing exports by growing 22.3, according to the survey, bringing the countrys trade balance to a deficit for a second straight month.p

p“South Korea will continue to see the trade deficit widening due to higher import prices with a onemonth lag to crude oil prices,” said Stephen Lee, senior economist at Meritz Securities.p

pTrade data will be released on May 1 at 9 a.m. 0000 GMT.p

pMeanwhile, the consumer price index was projected to rise 4.4 in April from a year earlier, according to a median forecast by 11 economists in the survey, speeding up from a 4.1 rise in March and hitting the fastest rise since August 2011. p

pIndustrial output was forecast to post a seasonallyadjusted 0.2 decline in March from the previous month, after four straight months of expansion.p

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pp Reporting by Jihoon Lee in Seoul and Devayani Sathyan in Bengaluru Editing by Sam Holmesp

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