Delayed Demand Recovery
Korea’s ICT exports in April reached US$12.77 billion, down 35.9 percent from April 2022 when Korea posted the highest April exports ever, according to ICT import and export data released by the Ministry of Science and ICT on April 15. The drop in the ICT exports was blamed on a delay in a recovery of demand from the ICT industry due to an international economic slowdown and a sluggish global semiconductor industry. Last year, ICT exports hit US$19.93 billion in April.
Imports by the Korean ICT industry were US$10.44 billion in April, and Korea’s ITC trade balance was provisionally estimated to be US$2.33 billion.
By products, semiconductor exports fell by 40.5 percent, display exports 30.5 percent, mobile phone exports 41.6 percent, computer and peripheral exports 66.7 percent, and telecommunications equipment exports 14.7 percent.
By region, ICT exports to China including Hong Kong sank by 39.0 percent, those to Vietnam 26.7 percent, those to the United States 40.1 percent, those to the European Union 36.8 percent, and those to Japan 25.1 percent.
The amount of Korea’s ICT imports amounted to US$10.44 billion, down 14.0 percent from US$12.14 billion in the same month of 2022.
Korea’s semiconductor exports shrank by a whopping 40.5 percent to US$6.48 billion. System semiconductor experts shrank by 22.1 percent to US$3.12 billion and memory exports 54.1 percent to US$2.93 billion as unit prices continued to decline along with lower shipments due to a sluggish semiconductor industry.
System semiconductor exports continued to decline from US$4.27 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.9 percent in December 2022, to US$2.9 billion, a year-on-year drop of 25.0 percent in January 2023, and further to US$3.12 billion, a year-on-year drop of 22.1 percent in April 2023.
Memory semiconductor exports were on a downswing from US$2.77 billion, a year-on-year drop of 57.3 percent in January 2023, to US$2.92 billion, a year-on-year drop of 53.9 percent in February 2023, to US$4.57 billion, a year-on-year drop of 44.3 percent in March 2023.
Display exports fell by 30.5 percent to US$1.43 billion. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display exports descended by 21.6 percent to US$920 million and LCD exports by 43.9 percent to US$290 million, showing downward curves.
Mobile phone exports totaled US$810 million, down 41.6 percent. Other declines included US$590 million, or a drop of 66.7 percent, for computer and peripheral exports and US$290 million, or a drop of 79.9 percent, for exports of solid-state drives (SSDs) for electronic devices, data centers, and servers.
Korea posted US$200 million in telecommunication equipment exports, up 14.7 percent year over year. Exports to India amounted to US$20 million, up 380.3 percent, as the country expands its fifth-generation (5G) communication infrastructure, but the overall volume of the telecommunications equipment exports declined due to a global economic slowdown.