S. Korea's IT exports gain 1.7 pct in June

SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports of information technology (IT) products rose 1.7 percent on-year in June on growing global demand for smartphones, the government said Wednesday. The country exported US$13.24 billion worth of IT products last month, compared with $13.02 billion worth of goods shipped abroad during the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The country's trade surplus in the IT sector came to $6.33 billion, surpassing the country's surplus of $3.25 billion for all industrial sectors, including the IT industry, in June. The growth in June marks the 21st month in a row the country's exports of IT products increased on-year and also the fourth consecutive month in which outbound shipments exceeded the $13 billion mark. "IT exports reached over $13 billion for the fourth consecutive month in June, despite a drop in exports of the country's key export items, such as semiconductors and displays, as exports of mobile phones continued to grow," the ministry said in a press release. Shipments of mobile phones rose 17.9 percent on-year to $2.22 billion in June, buoyed by a 62.3 percent increase in exports of smartphones, it said. Exports of semiconductors dropped 3.9 percent from a year earlier to $4.21 billion. The ministry earlier said the drop was mainly due to a plunge in prices, which fell from $2.86 per dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip in the first half of last year to $1.07 this year. By region, shipments to China, including Hong Kong, rose 5.3 percent from a year earlier to $6.21 billion with exports to Japan soaring 20.1 percent to $820 million. Shipments to Europe dropped 34.7 percent from a year earlier to $1.04 billion, apparently due to growing economic uncertainties originating from Greece, the ministry said. For the first six months of the year, the ministry said the country's IT exports gained 6.3 percent on-year to $77.3 billion with its IT imports growing 15 percent to $40.58 billion, leaving a $36.8 billion surplus for South Korea.