South Korea's terms of trade inched up in June for the first time in more than two years as import costs fell at a faster pace than export prices, central bank data showed Thursday.
The country's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of overall trade terms -- came to 85.36 last month, up 0.2 percent from a year ago, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It is the first on-year gain since March 2021.
The index is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. It shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports.
The central bank said the slight improvement in trade terms came as import prices sank 15.7 percent on-year in June, with export prices tumbling 15.5 percent.
The index for export volume rose 7.5 percent on-year in June, the first gain in four months, while that for the value of exports fell 9.2 percent, marking the ninth straight month of gains.
The index for the value of import prices sank 12 percent last month, marking the fourth consecutive month of decreases. The index for import volume turned around to rise 4.4 percent on-year.
Source: Yonhap News Agency