SEOUL: South Korea’s exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products in 2015 declined on soft global demand for goods caused by economic slowdown, a government report showed on Monday.
The country’s ICT exports came to 172.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, down 1.9 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. ICT imports, however, grew 3.6 percent to 91.3 billion dollars, sending last year’s ICT trade surplus to 81.6 billion dollars that was down from the previous year.
The ebbing exports in ICT products came after the global ICT industry shrank last year. The global ICT market fell 5.8 percent in 2015, according to market researcher Gartner’s estimate. Despite the negative conditions, South Korea’s ICT exports topped 170 billion dollars in 2015, leading the overall growth of the export-driven economy. The ICT exports accounted for about a third of the country’s total exports last year, with the ICT surplus taking up about 90 percent of the total trade surplus.
Major export items were chips and handsets. Exports of handsets, including smartphones, increased 9.8 percent to 29.0 billion dollars in 2015, with chip shipments rising 0.4 percent to 62.9 billion dollars despite lower prices. Exports of display panels and digital TVs declined 6.8 percent and 26.1 percent each last year due to weak global demand and lower product prices.
Imports of handsets surged 32.6 percent due to demand for smartphones made by Chinese companies and Apple. Chip imports grew 5 percent, and digital TV imports jumped 18.6 percent.
