ICT Contribution
The local information and communications technology (ICT) sector set a new high in terms of both exports and trade balance last month.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on May 13 that exports from the ICT sector increased 4.5 percent year-on-year to US$14.76 billion, and cumulative exports between January and April this year totaled US$55.91 billion. The sector’s trade balance reached US$7.49 billion last month, outplaying the entire industry average of US$4.46 billion.
By export destination, the exports to China and Hong Kong amounted to US$7.36 billion with a year-on-year growth rate of 5.5 percent. Those to the United States and Japan jumped 12.9 percent and 32.1 percent to US$1.73 billion and US$570 million, respectively.
The export of mobile phones rose 11.8 percent, led mainly by that of parts and the Galaxy S5 effect, to US$2.45 billion. The export of system semiconductor products increased 12.4 percent to US$4.84 billion with the DRAM price remaining high. The total DTV exports were US$650 million, 14.7 percent up from a year earlier.
In the meantime, the monthly imports of the sector showed a 7.2 percent growth to reach US$7.27 billion. Semiconductor imports totaled US$2.96 billion (0.7 percent up), followed by those of computers and peripheral devices (US$820 million, 8.7 percent up) and display panels (US$470 million, 2.4 percent up).
The imports of connection parts such as PCBs declined 9.0 percent to US$410 million and those of DTVs fell 0.1 percent to US$30 million.
Imports from Japan, the United States, and the Middle East declined unlike those from China, ASEAN, and the EU.