The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on November 14 that exports of Korea’s information and communications technology (ICT) products dropped 10.3 percent to USD 17.9 billion in October.
Imports gained 13.6 percent to $13.8 billion, and the trade balance stood at a surplus of $4.1 billion.
Exports of semiconductors, displays, computers and peripherals declined due to global economic slowdown, while mobile phones advanced along with strong demand for high value-added parts.
SMEs and middle-market companies, on the other hand, grew 3.1 percent in ICT exports and increased for the 29th consecutive month, their growth led by semiconductors, computers and peripherals. Weak demand for downstream industries and shrinking production of ICT devices are affecting exports.
System chip exports (up 17.6 percent to $4.4 billion) posted double-digit growth for the 19th consecutive month thanks to digital transformation trends, but falling unit prices of memory chips dragged down total chip exports by 16.2 percent year-on-year to $9.4 billion.
Outbound shipments of displays fell 9.6 percent to $2.0 billion. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) increased 2.9 percent to $1.4 billion and switched back to positive growth within two months on the backs of demand for high value-added mobile phone OLEDs.
LCD exports (down 30.4 percent to $0.4 billion) were hit by shrinking domestic LCD production due to accelerating transitions to OLEDs and intensifying price competitions. OLED exports surpassed 70 percent of entire displays exports for the first time in October, indicating that the shift from LCD to OLED is achieving a smooth transition.
Outbound shipments of mobile phones expanded 13.0 percent to $1.6 billion in spite of those of finished products decreasing by 28.8 percent to $0.3 billion, as parts exports rose by 30.2 percent to 1.3 billion.
Finished products saw continued demand for premium phones surge across EU (up 10.3 percent) and Japan (up 5.7 percent).
Mobile phone parts recorded growth for the 16th consecutive month as camera modules, 3D sensing modules and other high value-added parts met growing demand.
Computers and peripheral devices plunged 30.9 percent to $1.0 billion due to global economic downturn and cooling demand for IT devices.
The value of ICT goods shipped to all major export destinations contracted.
Korea’s ICT goods shipped to China (down 16.0 percent to $7.8 billion) decreased as China’s zero-COVID lockdowns continued and plant shutdowns are impacting demand.
Vietnam saw demand for mobile application processors (APs) and semiconductors (up 10.2 percent to $1.4 billion) rise, but diminishing demand for displays (down 2.7 percent to $1.2 billion) and mobile phones (down 45.1 percent to $0.1 billion) lowered overall shipments by 1.3 percent to $3.2 billion.
Secondary battery exports to the U.S. jumped 67.6 percent to $0.4 billion, but the fall of semiconductors (down 39.8 percent to $0.5 billion) and computers and peripherals (down 6.1 percent to $0.4 billion) caused a slide of 13.9 percent to $2.1 billion.
ICT shipments to the EU fell 4.6 percent to $960 million, as demand for chips (down 3.9 percent to $0.2 billion) and computers and peripherals (down 23.1 percent to $0.1 billion) dropped.
Exports of ICT items to Japan inched down 5.3 percent to $0.4 billion, owing to faltering demand for chips (down 14.0 percent to $0.1 billion) and computers and peripherals (down 44.0 percent to $30 million).
Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy