SEOUL, May 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export fell 6.4 percent in the first 10 days of this month on weak demand for locally-made semiconductors, customs office data showed Monday.

Export, which accounts for about half of the export-driven economy, amounted to 13 billion U.S. dollars during the May 1-10 period, down 6.4 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Korea Customs Service.

It was mainly attributable to the still soft demand for chips, caused by the global downturn in business cycle of the global chip industry.

Chip export tumbled 31.8 percent in the cited period, with those for auto parts and display panels posting a double-digit decline.

Outbound shipments for oil product, automobile and telecommunication devices, such as smartphone, grew by a double-digit in the period.

Reflecting the increased number of working days, the daily average export reduced 13.6 percent from a year earlier to 2.01 billion dollars in the 10-day period.

During the period, import gained 7.2 percent over the year to 15.2 billion dollars, sending the trade deficit to 2.2 billion dollars.