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South Korea's IT trade surplus hits new high

Country saw a record high trade surplus in its IT sector for November, which is higher than the overall US$4.48 billion trade surplus.
Written by Jamie Yap, Contributor

South Korea's IT sector recorded a new high in trade surplus of US$7.86 billion for the month of November, thanks to brisk sales of mobile phones and semiconductors.

According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, export numbers for South Korean IT products last month grew 12 percent year-on-year to US$14.52 billion, while imports increased 2.2 percent year-on-year to US$6.66 billion, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday.

The IT trade surplus of US$7.86 billion is higher than the country's South Korea's total trade surplus of US$4.48 billion for November, as earlier reported by Xinhua. Overall exports in the country grew 3.9 percent to US$47.8 billion, while imports went up 0.7 percent to US$43.32 billion. 

The ministry attributed the surge in IT trade surplus to the large uptick in outbound shipments of mobile phones and semiconductors. Handset shipments jumped 23.5 percent year-on-year to US$2.32 billion, while semiconductor shipments increased 12.9 percent to US$4.6 billion.

Specifically, IT exports to China grew 21.8 percent to US$7.55 billion. Exports to Southeast Asia grew 19.9 percent to US$1.64 billion, while exports to the European Union grew 18.8 percent to US$13.1 billion.

The ministry added IT exports will likely continue to go up during the rest of the 2012, thanks to strong sales for semiconductors and display panels, energy subsidies in China, and recovering demand for TV sets recovers in the United States.

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