South Korea's exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products posted a double-digit growth in February thanks to demand for locally-made semiconductors, a government report showed on Wednesday.
The ICT exports reached 14.06 billion U.S. dollars in February, up 22.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It was the first time the February figure topped 14 billion dollars. Shipments of semiconductors led the February increase as chip exports surged 56.6 percent to the monthly high of 6.5 billion dollars last month. Display panel exports expanded 15.5 percent over the year to 2.23 billion dollars in February.
Those for computer and peripherals advanced 22.9 percent to 660 million dollars. Handset shipments plunged 25.9 percent to 1.5 billion dollars amid fiercer global competition and the absence of new models. Exports to China and the European Union jumped 34.1 percent and 37.9 percent each last month due to robust demand for semiconductors.
Those to the United States tumbled 17 percent on weak demand for handsets. Trade surplus in the ICT sector reached 6.77 billion dollars in February. Among the total, 4.82 billion dollars came from the Chinese mainland and China's Hong Kong.
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