The Republic of Korea’s exports increased 8.4 percent from a year earlier in November to over US$61 billion, marking the sixth consecutive month of increase on the back of strong demand for semiconductors, government data showed Monday.

Outbound shipments came to $61.04 billion last month, the highest for any November, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.

Imports gained 1.2 percent on-year to $51.3 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $9.73 billion, reported Yonhap News Agency.

Accumulated exports in the January-November period reached $640.2 billion, a record high for the cited period, raising expectations that the country's annual exports will surpass the $700 billion mark for the first time in its history this year.

Semiconductor exports soared 38.6 percent on-year to an all-time monthly high of $17.26 billion last month, led by a continued rise in memory chip prices sparked by strong demand for high-value products for data centers.

It marked the ninth consecutive month chip exports posted an on-year increase.