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