SEOUL - Trade volume between South Korea and Japan hit a record high in March despite the devastating earthquake that struck the northeastern region of the island nation, a government report said on Monday.

South Korea's exports to Japan reached an all-time monthly high of $3.27 billion in March, up 53.8 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in the report.

The previous monthly high of the nation's exports to the neighboring country was $2.95 billion tallied for January this year.

Imports from Japan topped 6.24 billion dollars last month, up 8. 4 percent from a year earlier, according to the report. The previous high of inbound shipments from Japan was $5.93 billion recorded at December last year.

Japan's natural disaster had little impact on trade between the two neighboring countries, the ministry said, adding that the country's trade deficit with Japan has decreased during the first quarter amid exports rising faster than imports.

Outbound shipments of oil products to Japan surged 256 percent on-year to 744 million dollars in March, with exports of semiconductors, steel plates and mobile communication devices all recording double-digit gains, the report showed.

Imports of semi-conductor equipment dropped 25.3 percent on- year to 272 million dollars last month, but inbound shipments of steel plates and semi-conductors rising 29.6 percent and 28.9 percent respectively.