South Korea’s Mobile Phone Exports Dropped by Half in Oct.

The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning announced on November 17 that South Korea’s exports from the ICT sector fell 6.8% from a year earlier to US$14.94 billion last month. It added that the exports from the sector fell for the 13th consecutive month while the imports and trade surplus added up to US$8.2 billion and US$6.73 billion, respectively.

Mobile phone and component exports dropped 33.1% to US$2.22 billion due to the lingering impact of the Galaxy Note 7 recall. In September, the same exports had plummeted by 33.8% for the same reason. Finished mobile phone product exports showed a decline of 48.8% after 36.4% in June, 38.9% in July, 29.3% in August and 44.8% in September.

In the meantime, display exports totaled US$2.59 billion, down 5.2% from a year ago, to set a new yearly high thanks to an increase in OLED demands and a rise in panel prices. Semiconductor exports edged up 1.7% to US$5.59 billion and the exports of computers and peripherals rose 7.4% to US$700 million. The export to Vietnam increased 46% to US$1.52 billion. Those to China and Hong Kong fell 12.5% to US$7.76 billion, the United States 2.5% to US$1.67 billion and Europe 21.8% to US$820 million.

The monthly imports declined 6.5% from a year ago. Specifically, the imports of computers and peripherals increased 3.8% to US$780 million, digital TV imports jumped 55.8% to US$80 million, mobile phone imports fell 1.1% to US$1.42 billion, semiconductor imports fell 15.8% to US$3.01 billion and display imports fell 4.9% to US$420 million. The trade surplus of US$6.73 billion includes a surplus with China and Hong Kong of US$4.59 billion and one with the United States of US$970 million.