Seoul: South Korea's outbound shipments fell 10.3 percent from a year earlier to $49.1 billion, with petroleum products posting the biggest drop of 29.8 percent among 15 major sectors.

According to Qatar News Agency, circumstances surrounding South Korea's exports continued to worsen this month due to a decrease in the prices of semiconductors and petroleum products, coupled with a global trend toward protectionism, South Korean industry ministry said Thursday.

First Vice Industry Minister Park Sung-taek stated that "external circumstances surrounding exports are not easy due to the weakening of prices of our major export products, such as semiconductors and petroleum products, and sluggish global demand in February," as reported by the South Korean News Agency (Yonhap).

Park further noted, "In particular, protectionist trade policies are rapidly expanding across the globe as major economies are immediately responding to the new US administration's trade policies, including tariffs."

He also mentioned that the industry ministry will swiftly implement support measures for export industries drawn up by the government earlier this week to reduce uncertainties for local businesses and prepare additional response measures for tariff plans of the Donald Trump administration.