S. Korea's ICT exports grow in 2014 on strong semiconductor

South Korea's exports of information communication technology (ICT) products rose to a new annual high in 2014, partly on record exports of semiconductors, the government said Thursday.

Outbound shipments of ICT products came to US$173.88 billion last year, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The trade surplus in the ICT sector shrank slightly from $88.6 billion in 2013 to $86.35 billion last year as imports grew 8.3 percent on-year to $87.53 billion.

The surplus was still nearly double South Korea's total trade surplus of $47.4 billion in 2014, the ministry said, showing that the ICT sector helped more than offset trade deficits in other sectors.

"ICT exports also contributed greatly to the growth of the country's exports, accounting for 30.3 percent of the country's total shipments ($573.1 billion) last year," the ministry said in a press release.

The increase in ICT exports was partly attributed to high performance by semiconductors, the country's single largest export item.

In 2014, shipments of semiconductors surged 9.6 percent on-year to $62.65 billion, breaching the $60 billion mark for the first time.

Exports of mobile phones gained 6.3 percent to $26.44 billion.

Those for display panels slipped 3.2 percent on-year to $28.38 billion, largely on a fall in global demand, as well as growing competition from Chinese manufacturers whose combined global market share expanded from 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 15.3 percent in the third quarter of 2014.

By country, shipments to China, the world's single-largest market for South Korean ICT products, gained 3.6 percent on-year to $88.6 billion, with exports to the United States growing 3.8 percent to $16.86 billion.

Shipments to Japan, on the other hand, plunged 11.3 percent on-year to $6.17 billion. Exports to the European Union slipped 1.7 percent to $13.25 billion. (Yonhap)