Exports by startups to hit record $20b this year: KITA

Exports by South Korea's venture startups will likely hit a record $20 billion this year helped by surging shipments of instrumentation and control devices and semiconductor production equipment to China and Vietnam, industry data showed Friday.

The amount reached $14.7 billion for the first nine months this year, up 14.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the statistics provided by the Korea International Trade Association.

Exports by startups rose to $18 billion last year from $16.7 billion in 2014.

The total shipments during the January-September period break down by country to $3.6 billion for China, up 13.8 percent from the previous year, $2.1 billion for Vietnam, up 51.6 percent from a year earlier, and $1.8 billion for the United States, a 5.8 percent on-year gain.

Exports of instrumentation and control devices surged 85.7 percent this year from the previous year, while the comparable figures for semiconductor production equipment and flat panel displays moved up 33.3 percent and 57.1 percent, respectively.

Shipments of soaps, cosmetics and toothpastes also rose by 33.7 percent this year from a year earlier.

"It is important for us to support venture firms by investing in new technologies and securing key source technologies so we can improve the export base and get away from the current strategy of relying on a handful of products made by big businesses," Moon Byung-ki of KITA said. (Yonhap)