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By Jihoon Lee<\/p>\n
SEOUL, May 28 (Reuters) – South Korean exports likely rose for a 12th straight month in May, as a \u200cglobal boom in AI investment drove a surge in chip \u200csales, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a bellwether for \u200bglobal trade, were projected to have risen 48.4% from a year earlier, according to a median forecast of nine economists.<\/p>\n
That would be slightly faster than the 48.0% rise in April but weaker than the 50.2% \u200cjump in March, which \u2060was the strongest since August 1988. Exports have been rising since June 2025 and posting double-digit growth since \u2060December.<\/p>\n
“It is in line with projection that export growth will accelerate in the second quarter from the first quarter, but the pace is even \u200bstronger,” said \u200bStephen Lee, an economist at \u200bMeritz Securities in Seoul.<\/p>\n
In the \u200cfirst 20 days of this month, exports jumped 64.8% from a year earlier as semiconductor sales more than trebled.<\/p>\n
“The export boom will continue for a significant period of time on the global manufacturing cycle being robust despite high oil prices and the boom in chip exports,” \u200csaid Park Sang-hyun, an economist at \u200biM Securities.<\/p>\n
In the survey, imports were projected \u200bto have risen 21.5% this \u200bmonth from a year earlier. This would be \u200cfaster than the 16.7% increase in \u200bApril and the \u200bfastest since August 2022.<\/p>\n
Consumer inflation was seen accelerating to 3.0% in May from 2.6% in April, which would be the fastest \u200byear-on-year increase since March \u200c2024.<\/p>\n
South Korea is scheduled to report trade figures for May \u200bon Monday, June 1, at 9 a.m. (0000 GMT).<\/p>\n
(Reporting by \u200bJihoon Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n