(LEAD) S. Korea's exports drop 4.7 pct on-year in Nov.

(ATTN: RECASTS lead para; UPDATES with additional details from 5th para)

SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports continued to decline in November largely due to low oil prices, but its trade surplus reached a record high as imports dipped at a faster clip than exports, the government said Tuesday.

Outbound shipments came to US$44.43 billion last month, down 4.7 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Despite the cut in exports, the country's trade surplus spiked to a record high of $10.36 billion last month as imports declined at a much faster rate.

Imports plunged 17.6 percent on-year to $34.07 billion. November also marked the 46th consecutive month the country posted a trade surplus.

The drop in exports was attributed to low global oil prices, which in turn pulled down the price of South Korean products shipped overseas.

In November, the average price of South Korean exports slipped 4.5 percent on-year while overall shipments, in terms of volume, only inched down 0.2 percent, the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry said the average price of Dubai crude, which accounts for some 80 percent of the country's total oil imports, plunged 46 percent to $41.60 per barrel last month from $77.10 per barrel in November 2014.

Consequently, the average price of South Korea's petroleum and petrochemical products tumbled 36.8 percent and 26.8 percent on-year, respectively. Outbound shipments of petroleum products, in terms of value, plunged 36.3 percent on-year while those of petrochemical products also suffered a 24-percent cut.

Petroleum and petrochemical products made up nearly one-fourth of South Korea's overall exports prior to the cuts in global oil prices.

Exports of ships, on the other hand, more than doubled from a year earlier, spiking 133.7 percent on-year in November while shipments of mobile communication devices, including smartphones, surged 23.6 percent.

By country, shipments to China continued to shrink for the fifth consecutive month since July, falling 6.8 percent on-year in November. China is by far the world's single largest importer of South Korean products, accounting for over 25 percent of South Korea's total exports in 2014.

Exports to Japan and the United States also plunged 18.9 percent and 12.4 percent on-year, respectively, while shipments to European Union countries jumped 52.5 percent.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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