SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's current account surplus posted the lowest in seven years in the first half of this year on the continued export fall, central bank data showed Tuesday.

Current account surplus was 21.77 billion U.S. dollars in the January-June period, down 24.7 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It was the lowest in seven years since the first half of 2012 as export continued to decline for the seventh consecutive month through June.

For the first six months of this year, export reduced 9.8 percent over the year to 277.72 billion U.S. dollars, the first slide in two and a half years.

The export reduction was attributable to the global trade dispute and the downturn in business cycle of the global semiconductor industry.

Adding to the concern, Japan removed South Korea last week from its whitelist of trusted trading partners that are given preferential procedure for export. The removal dimmed outlook for South Korea's export in the second half.

The services account balance logged a deficit of 12.35 billion U.S. dollars in the first half on the rising number of Chinese tourists visiting the country. It was the lowest deficit since the second half of 2016.

In June alone, the current account surplus amounted to 6.38 billion U.S. dollars, down 14.5 percent from a year earlier.

Export diminished 15.9 percent over the year to 43.99 billion U.S. dollars in June, while import contracted 11.8 percent to 37.72 billion U.S. dollars. Trade surplus for goods shrank to 6.27 billion U.S. dollars in June from 9.54 billion U.S. dollars tallied a year earlier.