South Korea’s September Surplus Hits Record $61.46 Billion

By Rebecca Stone

South Korea posted a record $61.46 billion current-account surplus in September, exceeding $60 billion for the first time, according to the Bank of Korea’s provisional “September balance of payments” release on the 5th.

The chips did the heavy lifting. Exports of IT goods, including semiconductors, drove the result, which rose 23.6% from June’s previous record of $49.73 billion.

How far ahead of the forecast is South Korea?

January through September produced a $340.66 billion surplus, 2.8 times the record full-year total of $123.0538 billion achieved last year.

The central bank’s full-year forecast has climbed with the chip cycle: $130 billion in November last year, $170 billion in February, $250 billion in May and $450 billion in August.

At September’s $61.46 billion monthly pace, another three months would take the total above $450 billion; sustaining about $36.4 billion per month would bring it to roughly that level. The reported pace was therefore expected to clear the forecast.

What powered the record goods balance?

Trade supplied most of the current-account gain. The goods surplus reached an all-time high of $62.75 billion, up 31% from June’s $47.89 billion record and above $60 billion for the first time.

Goods exports hit a record $130.72 billion, passing $100 billion for a fourth consecutive month and jumping 92.4% from a year earlier as the semiconductor boom accelerated.

Exports of IT items, including semiconductors, surged 195.8% year over year. Computer peripherals, identified in the release as SSDs, jumped 392.3%, while semiconductor exports increased 260.3%.

Non-IT exports rose a more restrained 13.4%. Petroleum products advanced 73.3%, steel products gained 6.7%, and machinery and precision instruments rose 6.3%. Passenger-car exports moved the other way, falling 5.6%.

Why did imports rise with exports?

Goods imports climbed 29.4% from a year earlier to $67.97 billion. Semiconductors accounted for a 92.8% increase, while imports of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment rose 49.2%.

Raw-material imports increased 21.3%, and capital-goods imports rose 42.3%, extending the rise in the equipment and inputs used across industrial supply chains.

The parallel moves matter commercially: the trade surplus did not come from imports staying flat. South Korea exported more chips while buying more chips and production equipment, showing that semiconductor demand and manufacturing activity remained strong at home and overseas.

What do services and financial flows show?

The services balance posted a $3.35 billion deficit, widening from $1.68 billion in the previous month. Intellectual-property fees and travel each generated $770 million deficits.

The intellectual-property deficit roughly doubled from $390 million in August. Travel remained in deficit, although the end of the summer peak season reduced both departures and arrivals.

Separately, the financial account recorded a $54.34 billion net increase, surpassing June’s record of $46.71 billion. That cross-border financial strength coexisted with foreign investors selling a net $13.74 billion of domestic stocks and $70 million of bonds.

South Koreans, by contrast, bought a net $9.91 billion of overseas stocks and $6.72 billion of overseas bonds. The latter marked a monthly record for a second consecutive month, following $6.44 billion in net purchases in the previous month.

Residents’ overseas securities investment rose by $16.63 billion, the second-largest monthly increase on record behind October 2025’s $17.29 billion.

The year-end capacity question is whether semiconductor-equipment imports, up 49.2%, keep rising alongside chip exports, up 260.3%. Sustained strength would carry South Korea beyond its $450 billion forecast; a sharp export reversal would expose how quickly the chip-led current-account boom can fade.