South Korean exports fell 6.6 percent in January from a year earlier, compared with the median forecast for a small rise in a Reuters poll and weaker than the worst forecast, as the euro zone crisis hit the global economy.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected January exports to rise 0.7 percent over a year earlier and imports to increase 4.8 percent.

January exports were weaker than the worst forecast from the Reuters survey of 11 analysts and the first annual decline that South Korea posted since October 2009.