Korea's ICT exports achieve 13.9% growth in May

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on June 14 that Korea's information and communications technology (ICT) industry exported $20.2 billion (up 13.9 percent) worth of goods in May.

Imports expanded 19.8 percent to $12.6 billion, and the trade balance was a surplus of $7.6 billion, a historic high for May.

Outbound shipments of all major products achieved growth, namely semiconductors, displays, computers and peripherals and mobile phones.

Semiconductor exports advanced 14.9 percent to $11.6 billion, surpassing the $10.0 billion mark for 13 months straight. Memory chips moved up 10.8 percent to $7.3 billion, and system chips jumped 26.8 percent to $3.8 billion, posting double-digit growth for the 14th consecutive month.

Shipments of displays gained 2.4 percent to $1.8 billion. Market expansion of high value-added mobile displays enlarged shipments of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) by 2.1 percent to $990 million. LCD panels went up 3.0 percent to $490 million despite panel unit prices continuing to slide.

Mobile phones inched up 1.0 percent to $1.1 billion as parts (up 0.4 percent to $630 million) and finished products (up 2.0 percent to $420 million) both advanced year-on-year. The former was a result of China-led, heightened demand for high value-added parts and the latter switched to positive growth as EU's demand for Korean smartphones shot up (up 238.9 percent to $210 million).

Despite a 53.2 percent plummet in computers ($90 million) due to parts shortages, computers and peripheral devices overall soared 32.8 percent to a record-breaking $1.8 billion, owing to a steep spike in peripherals (up 47.5 percent to $1.7 billion).

By region, ICT exports increased across all major destinations.

Outbound ICT shipments to China, which take up 43.5 percent out of the entire exports value, rose 1.5 percent to $8.8 billion, led by semiconductors (up 2.2 percent to $6.3 billion) and cell phones (up 45.7 percent to $470 million), whereas displays (down 15.6 percent to $800 million) and computers and peripherals (down 2.7 percent to $520 million) decreased.

Vietnam-bound exports jumped 15.4 percent to $2.8 billion. The growth was attributable to higher demand for chips (up 41.0 percent to $1.4 billion) and displays (up 7.6 percent to $790 million).

ICT products shipped to the U.S. recorded $2.8 billion, up 20.8 percent from the same period last year. Robust sales of semiconductors (up 20.9 percent to $860 million), computer peripherals (up 50.1 percent to $620 million) and secondary batteries (up 51.6 percent to $360 million) led to the expansion

Those to the EU climbed 26.1 percent to $1.3 billion thanks to a sharp spike of mobile phones (up 167.4 percent to $220 million) and computers and peripherals (up 77.1 percent to $300 million).

Exports to Japan advanced 25.6 percent to $420 million as demand soared for semiconductors (up 16.4 percent to $140 million) and computers and peripherals (up 237 percent to $100 million).

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