Exports by South Korea's venture firms jumped over 21% from a year earlier last month, a local trade organization said Thursday, marking the first double-digit growth in over a year and possibly heralding an imminent improvement in the country's overall exports.

    According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), outbound shipments by local venture firms came to US$1.69 billion in November, up 21.6% from the same month last year. The November tally marked the first double-digit growth since a 10.6% increase posted in June 2015, it noted. It also marked the seventh consecutive month of growth. The sharp increase also compared to a 2.7% gain in overall exports.

    KITA said such an increase may be especially meaningful in that it may signal an improvement in the country's overall exports. South Korea's overall exports had dropped for 19 consecutive months since the start of last year before posting a slight increase in August.

    In 2015, the country's overall exports dwindled 8% while shipments by venture firms gained only 2.5% on-year. The rate of drop in overall exports has so far slowed to 7% in the first 11 months of the year, partly aided by a 4.3% rise in shipments by venture companies. 

    A steeper increase in shipments by venture firms may further reduce the drop in overall exports, KITA noted. By country, shipments by venture firms to most major markets are growing. 

    In the January-November period, shipments to the United States gained 8.2% on-year to nearly $2.19 billion, while exports to Vietnam jumped 18.8% to $1.76 billion.

    Shipments to China slipped 0.2% to $4.11 billion, but the figure still marked a great success considering the country's overall exports to China have plunged 10.9% on-year so far, it said.