Exports of ICT products fall for eighth month

Korean exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products fell for the eighth straight month in June on weak demand for semiconductors, mobile phones and displays, data showed Monday.

Total outbound shipments reached $14.8 billion last month, a drop of 22.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Exports of semiconductors, one of the country’s key export items, nose-dived 25.3 percent on year to a little over $8.4 billion, mainly due to falling prices for memory and lower demand for system chips, Monday’s data showed.

The June tally marks the seventh month in a row that semiconductor exports have contracted vis-a-vis the year before.

Shipments of displays, another key ICT product for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, stood at just under $1.6 billion, marking a 26.6 percent drop from a year earlier due to stiffer overseas competition mainly in the liquid crystal display sector.

The data showed exports of mobile phones falling 22.6 percent on year to $990 million for the one-month period amid flagging demand.

On the other hand, global demand for locally made rechargeable batteries rose 0.8 percent to $580 million.

By region, shipments to China, including Hong Kong, nose-dived 31.8 percent to $7.4 billion, with figures for the United States backtracking 19 percent on year to over $1.5 billion.

Exports to the European Union, another key market, fell 12 percent to $910 million, while corresponding numbers for Japan stood at $340 million, representing a drop of 11 percent from June 2018.

Yonhap