ICT exports up 18.6% in March

Korean exports of ICT products posted double-digit growth for the 16th month in a row in March on the back of brisk overseas sales of semiconductors, government data showed Wednesday.

A total of $19.1 billion worth of ICT products were shipped overseas last month, up 18.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The latest overseas shipment also marked the second-highest monthly total after the $19.2 billion recorded last September, the ministry said.

The ministry said strong demand for Korean memory chips and computers pushed up growth and offset sluggish exports of mobile phones and display panels.

Exports of semiconductors made by Asia’s fourth-largest economy soared 44.3 percent on-year to $10.98 billion in March to surpass the $10 billion-mark for the first time.

Overseas shipments of computers and related equipment jumped 61.1 percent on-year last month on the back of steady demand for solid state drives (SSD), government data said. SSD shipments skyrocketed 90.6 percent on-year in the cited month.

The ministry said exports of displays fell 14.7 percent on-year in the one-month period due to increased global competition for LCD panels, offsetting improved sales of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels.

Overseas sales of mobile handsets and parts decreased 17.8 percent to $1.37 billion last month from a year earlier, the latest numbers showed, mainly on the back of weak exports of parts.

By region, shipments to China, Vietnam, the United States and the European Union soared on-year by 27.5 percent, 12.3 percent, 24.9 percent and 14.9 percent, respectively, in March, the data showed.

Yonhap