S. Korea's IT exports rebound in February

South Korea's exports of information technology (IT) products rebounded last month due to seasonal factors and rising prices of memory chips, a government report showed Tuesday.

Exports of locally-manufactured IT products amounted to 11.62 billion U.S. dollars in February, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. For the first two months of this year, the exports shrank 4.4 percent on- year to 22.94 billion dollars.

The country's IT exports grew for the first time in five months in February on an on-year basis due mainly to seasonal factors. This year's February saw 23 full working days compared with last year's 19 business days as the Lunar New Year holiday moved to January this year from February last year.

Imports of IT products expanded 3.3 percent on-year to 6.06 billion dollars in February, sending the trade surplus in the IT sector to 5.56 billion dollars last month, surpassing a surplus of 2.2 billion dollars for all industries.

By item, exports of locally-made semiconductors expanded last month thanks to rising unit prices of DRAM chips and solid demand for system semiconductors which incorporate software and hardware components into a single unit.

Outbound shipments of semiconductors grew 6.3 percent on-year to 3.88 billion dollars in February. System chip exports surged 47.3 percent last month, keeping its on-year growth for 30 straight months. Memory chip exports shrank 19.1 percent last month, but the contraction was lower than the 32.5 percent on-year decline tallied in the previous month.

Exports of display panels advanced 2 percent on-year to 2.3 billion dollars in February. Shipments of panels for flat screen TVs fell 3.5 percent amid weak demand for such items in advanced economies, but mobile panel exports logged the seventh consecutive month of on-year growth.

Shipments of computer and computer-related products such as printers and monitors surged 27.4 percent to 620 million dollars. Exports of computers soared by 66.8 percent last month due to robust demand for tablet PCs.

However, exports of handsets plunged 32.5 percent to 1.33 billion dollars. The country ranked first in terms of the global market share of mobile phone and smartphone, but exports continued its downward trend due to local firms' expansion in overseas production, the ministry said.

Outbound shipments of TVs declined 10.1 percent on-year to 530 million dollars, but exports of three dimensional (3D) TVs and smart TVs has been leading the global market, according to the ministry.

By country, demand from emerging economics led the February rebound. Exports to China, including Hong Kong, grew 15.4 percent to 5.68 billion dollars, with shipments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expanding 19.8 percent to 1.26 billion dollars. But, the shipments to the debt-saddled European Union (EU) dropped 21 percent to 990 million dollars.

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