South Korea's ICT Exports Continuing to Increase

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on July 14 that exports from the domestic ICT sector added up to US$103.04 billion in the first half of this year, up 21.5 percent from a year ago, and the total is second only to that recorded in the first half of 2018, US$106.95 billion.

Specifically, semiconductor exports totaled US$57.51 billion, up 21.3 percent year on year. For reference, the figure was US$47.02 billion in the second half of 2019, US$47.43 billion in the first half of 2020, and US$52.82 billion in the second half of 2020.

Display exports increased 38 percent year on year to US$10.78 billion in the first half, led by a rise in LCD unit price and an increase in OLED demand. Mobile phone exports increased 33.3 percent to US$6.47 billion, led by an increase in demand for high-end smartphones and so on. Computer and computer-related exports rose 6.2 percent to an all-time high of US$7.31 billion.

Exports to China and Hong Kong were US$48.67 billion, up 18.8 percent from a year earlier. Those to Vietnam, the United States, the European Union and Japan increased 20.2 percent, 20.1 percent, 28 percent and 3.5 percent to US$15.05 billion, US$12.75 billion, US$6.19 billion and US$2.09 billion, respectively.

In the first half, South Korea’s imports in the ICT sector totaled US$62.75 billion with a year-on-year increase of 18.9 percent and the sector recorded a trade surplus of US$40.29 billion. Semiconductor imports and computer and computer-related imports increased 18.7 percent and 28.6 percent to US$27.57 billion and US$8.43 billion, respectively.

Last month, South Korea's exports from the ICT sector increased 29.1 percent year on year to US$19.3 billion, increasing for the 13th consecutive month. Semiconductor exports topped US$10 billion for two months in a row.