ICT exports reach record high in November

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on December 14 that shipments of Korea's information and communications technology (ICT) products reached an all-time high value of USD 21.5 billion, up 30.0 percent from the same period last year.

Exports posted double-digit growth for eight straight months.

Imports went up 23.1 percent to $12.8 billion, and the trade balance stood at a surplus of $8.7 billion.

Exports of all four ICT product types expanded.

Those of semiconductors amounted to $12.1 billion, up 39.5 percent. The export value for chips surpassed $10.0 billion for seven months in a row. Memory chips jumped 47.3 percent to $7.6 billion due to continued demand for mobile phones and servers. System chips climbed up 31.1 percent to $3.9 billion, and cumulative exports of system chips from January to November this year set a new record of $35.9 billion.

Display exports gained 11.3 percent to $2.4 billion, increasing for the 15^th consecutive month. In particular, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) saw robust demand and increased 14.0 percent to $1.5 billion.

Shipments of mobile phones totaled 1.5 billion, up 17.0 percent compared to the same period last year. Increased sales of premium smartphones and high value-added parts led to improvements in both finished products (up 6.8 percent to $430 million) and parts (up 21.8 percent to $1.0 billion).

Those of computers and peripheral devices spiked 70.8 percent to $1.8 billion. Peripheral devices (up 85.1 percent to $1.6 billion) saw robust growth in demand, and auxiliary memory devices (up 102.5 percent to $1.4 billion) increased significantly.

ICT exports to all major regions increased.

Outbound shipments to China advanced 30.4 percent to $10.1 billion. Semiconductors, displays, and mobile phones all recorded growth.

Those to Vietnam rose 24.7 percent to $3.5 billion due to strong semiconductor and display sales.

ICT goods shipped to the United States (U.S.) saw a 34.7 percent increase to $2.5 billion on the back of semiconductors, computers and peripheral devices, and secondary batteries.

Those to the European Union (EU) totaled $1.3 billion, up 26.3 percent. The growth is attributable to robust sales of computers and peripheral devices, semiconductors, and mobile phones.

The value of ICT goods shipped to Japan moved up 16.0 percent to $381 million due to semiconductors and secondary batteries.

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