SEOUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export rebounded last month due to solid global demand for locally-made semiconductors and cars, government data showed Tuesday.

Export, which accounts for about half of the economy, swelled 4.3 percent from a year earlier to 59.80 billion U.S. dollars in June, after going down 1.3 percent in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Import gained 3.3 percent to 50.72 billion dollars, sending the trade surplus to 9.08 billion dollars. The trade balance stayed in black for the fifth consecutive month since February.

Of the country's 15 major export items, six products saw an increase in outbound shipment.

Semiconductor export jumped 11.6 percent over the year to hit a new record high of 14.97 billion dollars in June.

The record chip shipment was attributed to strong demand for high-end chips, including double data rate 5 (DDR5) and high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in generative artificial intelligence (AI) chipsets.

Global demand for display panels and mobile devices dived to 1.13 billion dollars and 1.02 billion dollars each, but computer export advanced 15.2 percent to 1.33 billion dollars on robust demand for solid state drives (SSD).

Automotive export climbed 2.3 percent to 6.34 billion dollars, marking the highest June figure on the back of higher demand for hybrid vehicles, while auto parts shipment increased 2.4 percent to 1.80 billion dollars.

Export for ships surged 63.4 percent to 2.50 billion dollars to keep an upward trend for the fourth successive month, but general machinery shipment reduced 7.6 percent to 3.79 billion dollars.

Export for oil products shrank 2.0 percent to 3.62 billion dollars on the back of lower product price.

Global prices for gasoline and diesel went down 8.9 percent and 11.3 percent each in June on a yearly basis.

Petrochemical shipment plunged 15.5 percent to 3.36 billion dollars owing to global supply glut and cheaper crude oil.

Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, averaged 63.7 dollars per barrel in May, down 24.2 percent compared with the same month of last year.

Steel product export fell 8.0 percent to 2.35 billion dollars because of the negative effect of the U.S. tariffs imposition, and secondary battery shipment retreated 19.5 percent to 590 million dollars.

Export for home appliances and textiles slid to 550 million dollars and 820 million dollars respectively.

Export to the United States inched down 0.5 percent over the year to 11.24 billion dollars in June, continuing to fall for the third straight month on lower demand for cars affected by the U.S. tariffs imposition.

Shipment to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) expanded 2.1 percent to 9.76 billion dollars, while export to the European Union (EU) soared 14.7 percent to 5.80 billion dollars.

Export to Japan, Latin America, India and the Middle East went up in single digits to 2.45 billion dollars, 2.43 billion dollars, 1.59 billion dollars and 1.92 billion dollars each.

Regarding import items, the import of three major energy sources, including crude oil, natural gas and coal, dropped 14.6 percent last month on lower raw materials price.

Non-energy import grew 7.9 percent on higher demand for semiconductor equipment and mobile phones.