S. Korea’s trade terms gain for 7th month in December

SEOUL, South Korea's terms of trade improved for the seventh consecutive month in December last year, as import costs fell at a faster pace than export prices, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of overall trade terms -- gained 2.4 percent last month from a year ago, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The index shows the amount of imports a country can buy for each unit of exports, with a lower figure meaning worse trade terms. Import prices declined 5 percent on-year last month, sharper than the 2.7 percent dip in export prices. It is calculated by dividing the index for export prices by that for import prices. Source: Yonhap News Agency