Mainly Due to Galaxy Note 7
It was found that sluggish cell phone exports gave rise to a drop in ICT exports for 12 straight months until September.
On October 13, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources announced that in September, exports in the ICT sector dropped 8.5% to US$ 14,530 million year on year. Imports and the trade surplus arrived at US$ 7,340 million and US$ 7,190 million, respectively.
By items, in September, exports of cell phones including finished products and parts shrank 33.8% to US$ 1,870 million from a year before. They fell 8.3% in June, 10.2% in July and 18.1% in August year on year. In September, the fall expanded. This is because the recall of the Galaxy Note 7 had a negative impact on cell phone exports.
At that, display exports dropped 3.9% to US$ 2,570 million, recording a 15-month low. Strong exports of SSDs and premium monitors drove up exports of computers and peripherals 15.1% to US$ 690 million while semiconductor exports declined 2.6%.
By regions, exports to Vietnam and the US rose 25.6% and 2.8% to US$ 1.490 million and US$ 1,480 million, respectively but exports to China including Hong Kong and the EU slid 11.1%, 22.9% to US$ 7.8 billion and US$ 7.6 billion, respectively, year on year.
In the case of imports in September, year on year, semiconductor and display imports dropped 16.4% and 14.4%, respectively and imports of cell phones and computers and peripherals jumped 3.8% and 10.9%, respectively. Korean companies’ reverse imports of cell phones led to a spike in cell phone imports.
In the balance of trade, the surplus of the ICT sector hit US$ 7.19 million, eclipsing that of all industries which stood at US$ 7.1 billion. Most of the ICT sector’s surplus came from China including Hong Kong (US$ 5.29 billion) and the US (US$ 860 million).