South Korea recorded good growth in its exports in February despite the decline in the number of working days, and shipments of semiconductors hit a monthly record because of high demand.

The exports of the fourth-largest economy in Asia increased 29 per cent compared to a year ago to 67.45 billion, after the increase of 34 per cent in January, the preliminary data released by the Trade Ministry on Sunday show.

The number of working days was cut down by three due to the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February. Despite that, the outcome was better than the median prediction of a 26 per cent increase in a survey of nine economists at the Wall Street Journal.

The imports were up 7.5 per cent from a year ago to a recent $51.94 billion, with a surplus in the trade standing at $15.51 billion. That was after an amended 8.72 billion surplus in January.

The majority of analysts foresee a robust and chip-based growth in the exportation of the country, which harbours the foremost memory chip makers in the world, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, this year, owing to the global demand associated with artificial intelligence.

The data revealed that shipments of semiconductors, which constitute more than a quarter of all exports, increased more than twofold last year to record shipments of semiconductors of $25.16 billion in February, surpassing a drop in auto, petrochemical and steel shipments.

In February 2010, exports to the U.S. and China increased by 30 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively, compared to the same month a year before.