IT Exports
With the rise of cell phones, semiconductors, televisions and other goods, IT exports have continued to increase for 11 consecutive months.
On August 8, the Ministry of Science, ICT, & Future Planning reported that the IT exports in July increased 10.1% to US$14.07 billion compared to July 2012, and imports increased 6.1% points at US$6.75 billion, earning a total of US$7.32 billion.
The IT trade balance recorded a total of US$7.32 billion, which is 2.7 times higher than the total balance of the payment surplus of US$2.71 billion. The accumulated IT exports and balance in July marked US$95.3 billion and US$49.3 billion each, the highest in history.
Although cell phones, semiconductors, and television exports increased largely, display panel, computer, and peripheral exports decreased.
For cellphones, smartphones (US$0.85 billion, 27.4% points) and parts (US$0.98 billion, 41.8% points) had satisfactory export conditions and accomplished two digit increase rates.
This is because major domestic businesses continue to thrive in sales, claiming 38.4% of the entire world market. Samsung Electronics has continued to rank first place in the smartphone market for six quarters in a row, along with LG Electronics ranking third place for two consecutive quarters.
The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning expected the export conditions to improve for the cellphone market, as the demands for exchanges in the advanced market and the distribution of popular smart phones in the emerging market continue.
Memory and system semiconductors also marked an increase of US$2.31 billion and US$1.91 billion each in the past 10 consecutive months.
LCD TVs recorded a 28.3% point increase at US$90 million, and TV parts increased 18.5% points at US$ 0.57 billion compared to last year.
Display panel exports recorded US$2.36 billion and continued to decrease for three months in a row. This is due to the dropped unit cost of TV panels as well as the decrease of demand as China ends its subsidy policy for power-saving home appliances.
The Ministry of Science, ICT, & Future Planning announced that IT exports will continue to increase with favorable export conditions of cell phones and semiconductors, despite the low exchange rate of the yen, slowdown of global IT growth, and other negative foreign conditions.
A Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning representative said, “Semiconductor exports will continue to rise thanks to the market domination of Korean enterprises, as well as the drop in supply due to global structural regulations and the two digit increase of the world’s semiconductor market,” and added, “The same can be expected for cellphone exports, with the release of new models aiming for the peak season, and the increased demand in the emerging market.”