Exports from newly growing sectors jump 20%

Exports of goods from newly growing sectors jumped 20 percent year on year, recent government data shows.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Wednesday that exports from eight newly growing industries - including electric vehicles, robots and aerospace related goods - jumped to a record $31.47 billion during the first half of the year. The export volume accounts for 11.3 percent of the country’s total exports.

“The growth in exports of newly growing industries surpassed that of overall exports, which recorded 15.8 percent, and they are taking a larger role in the country’s exports,” said Lee Min-woo, a director at the Trade Ministry.

In the first half of 2015, exports of newly growing sectors only accounted for 9.1 percent of the total, but they surpassed the 11 percent level by the second half of last year.

“Exports of eight newly growing industries have risen for the 11th consecutive quarter and it appears that this was helped by the expanded market ahead of the fourth industrial revolution and local companies that manufacture products with the latest technologies,” said Lee.

“We expect they will go up in the second half of the year as well as global trade volume as economies are improving,” he continued.

The Trade Ministry credited the next generation of semiconductors and display products for leading the growth.

The so-called next generation semiconductors, which include products like multi-chip package semiconductors and NAND flash memory, saw their exports go up 60.6 percent year on year in the first half of 2017. Exports of next generation displays rose 12.4 percent in the same period.

By country, exports of newly growing industries to China rose the most, with 24.3 percent, followed by Asean with 20.6 percent and the European Union with 6.5 percent.

BY KIM YOUNG-NAM [kim.youngnam@joongang.co.kr]