20% of exports come from Samsung Electronics

Despite the lackluster semiconductor business, sales of Samsung Electronics still accounted for almost one-fifth of Korea’s exports in the first half of this year.

In its semi-annual report released Wednesday, the electronics giant’s sales from January to June stood at 75.19 trillion won ($67.13 billion). Domestic sales totaled 10.52 trillion won, accounting for 14 percent of entire sales, while the company raised 64.67 trillion won overseas in the same period.

Samsung Electronics’ overseas sales account for more than 20 percent of Korea’s estimated 271 billion dollars of exports reported by the Korea International Trade Association.

By region, the Americas were Samsung’s biggest market, beating China, with sales standing at 21.23 trillion won, followed by China with 17.81 trillion won and Asian and African markets combined at 16.71 trillion won. Sales from Europe came to 8.91 trillion won.

“Foreign sales can be seen as exports since the sales volume was calculated based on the sales of the headquarters in Korea, excluding its subsidiaries and production firms based abroad,” a spokesperson from the industry told local news outlet Yonhap. “Since the sales [of Samsung Electronics] exceeded 1 percent for the first time in 1980, [the company’s sales volume of Korea’s entire exports] has continued to point upwards, having reached the 20 percent range.”

While Samsung’s sales in other foreign regions largely remained unchanged, the company’s sales in China dropped by almost 10 trillion won, or 35 percent, compared to the same period last year. Samsung’s sales in China in the first half of last year totaled 27.4 trillion won.

Sales of Samsung’s Device Solutions Division in China added up to 44.15 trillion won in the first half of this year, compared to 56.44 trillion won during the same period last year. The division is in charge of the semiconductor and display businesses.

The trade war between the United States and China, which shrunk investment in Chinese IT firms like Huawei and Xiaomi, is thought to be behind Samsung’s falling exports to China.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]