On Wednesday, government data revealed that South Korea’s exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products decreased for 13 months in a row in July due to a lack of demand for high-tech goods and declining chip prices.
As reported by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the country’s outbound shipments of ICT products totaled $14.6 billion last month, a 24.3% drop from $19.3 billion a year before.
The on-year decrease has been slowing down since April, when it hit a 35.9% decrease. In addition, ICT imports in July fell 13.7% on-year to $11.4 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $3.2 billion in the sector.
The ministry explained that ICT exports declined in almost all product categories last month due to a global economic slowdown. Semiconductors, which accounted for almost half of all ICT shipments, dipped 33.7% on-year to $7.5 billion, mainly because of the weak DRAM prices in the global market, which dropped to $1.34 in July from $2.88 a year prior.
Exports of displays dropped 5.4% year-on-year to $1.9 billion in July, while those of mobile phones and computers decreased 19.6% and 28% to $720 million and $870 million, respectively.
In terms of countries, combined shipments to China and Hong Kong declined 27.7% year-on-year to $6 billion. Exports to Vietnam, the United States and the European Union also decreased 18.6%, 28.3% and 24.9%, respectively.