S. Korea's ICT export falls for 12th consecutive month in June

SEOUL, July 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export of information and communications technology (ICT) products fell for the 12th consecutive month on the continued sluggishness in global demand for locally-made tech products, government data showed on Thursday.

The ICT products shipment tumbled 22.1 percent from a year earlier to 16.06 billion U.S. dollars in June, continuing to slide since July last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Semiconductor export plunged 27.9 percent to 8.99 billion dollars last month on the back of lower chip prices.

Display panel shipment retreated 11.1 percent to 1.59 billion dollars, and mobile phone export shrank 18.8 percent to 780 million dollars.

Shipment for computers and peripherals dived 48.7 percent to 870 million dollars, and communications equipment export reduced 3.3 percent to 220 million dollars.

The ICT products shipment to Vietnam, the United States and the European Union all sank in double digits to 2.49 billion dollars, 1.97 billion dollars and 970 million dollars each.

Import for ICT products dipped 12.3 percent over the year to 11.45 billion dollars in June, sending the trade surplus in the ICT industry to 4.61 billion dollars.

For the first six months of this year, the outbound shipment of ICT products came to 84.95 billion dollars, down 30.6 percent compared to the same period of last year.

The ICT import dwindled 8.4 percent to 68.2 billion dollars in the first half, leading the trade surplus to 16.75 billion dollars.