Korea’s information and communications technology (ICT) exports fell 13.4 percent year on year in September. The decline rate hit the lowest of the year thanks to semiconductor exports, which posted this year’s best performance in September.
According to September ICT import and export data from the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) on Oct. 16, Korea’s ICT exports reached US$18.06 billion in September, down 13.4 percent from the same month a year earlier. ICT exports had been declining year on year for 15 consecutive months since July 2022.
By item, display exports inflated by 1.0 percent, but exports of most other major items shrank, including semiconductors (-14.4 percent), mobile phones (-5.2 percent), computers and peripherals (-48.0 percent), and telecommunications equipment (-17.2 percent).
Semiconductor exports saw a double-digit year-on-year decline in value, but hit US$9.99 billion. Both memory exports (US$5.43 billion) and system chip exports (US$4.16 billion) were the highest this year.
“The overall semiconductor export decline rate stood at 14.4 percent, the lowest in this year, showing a gradual improvement,” the ministry said. “But exports are slowly recovering due to low prices of memories, the main item of the Korean semiconductor industry.”
Display exports rose 1 percent to US$2 billion. Exports of mobile-oriented organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays drove the growth of overall display exports, marking the second consecutive month of growth.
Exports of mobile phones declined for the eighth consecutive month due to a decline in finished goods exports (-33.4 percent) as global demand continued to slow down. Partial product exports to China and Vietnam, where major cell phone production bases are located, climbed (up 0.5 percent for China and 1.8 percent for Vietnam).
By region, ICT exports in September increased by 1.9 percent to Vietnam, while exports to China (-22.0 percent), the United States (-18.7 percent), and the European Union (-12.2 percent) continued to decline.
ICT imports in September contracted by 16.8 percent from the same period of last year to US$10.76 billion due to a drop in imports of key components such as semiconductors.
Korea’s September ICT trade balance was provisionally estimated at a surplus of US$7.3 billion.