The effect of ICT exports in South Korea’s economic growth

Outbound shipments of ICT products last month went up to USD19.65 billion

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products for January reached a new monthly high. This can be attributed to the strong global demand for semiconductors.

The Ministry of Science and ICT reported that outbound shipments of ICT products last month went up to USD19.65 billion, which was a 20 percent increase compared to the year before. This was achieved despite the threat of the Omicron variant and the price increase for raw materials, added ZDNet.

Semiconductor exports reached $10.9 billion this year, up 24 percent from January of 2021. It was the ninth month in a row that semiconductor shipments exceeded USD10 billion. Memory semiconductors contributed USD 6.5 billion while USD3.87 billion came from system semiconductors.

The import of similar goods, however, accumulated USD12.32 million. 

Among South Korea’s top trading partners, China and Hong Kong tallied up 24.3 percent on-year gains to USD9.2 billion.

A report by East Asia Forum shared that the country continued to capitalise on its trade industry because of strong global demand, with exports increasing by 25.7 percent and reaching a record high of USD644 million.

More: The South Korean government aims to build more data centres

There is currently a global chip shortage. Chipmakers such as TSMC, Toshiba, and Intel have all increased their production capacity to fulfill the strong demand as a result of the shortage. Due to the same reason, local semiconductor giants Samsung and SK Hynix posted strong yearly profits last year.

The country’s overall exports rose by 15.2 percent to USD55.32 billion in January due to strong demand for semiconductors and petrochemicals.

Export was one of the main factors that contributed to South Korea surviving the first year of the pandemic. Due to its position as a global leader in semiconductors and consumer electronics, it was able to benefit from this surge in demand. From a 0.9 percent GDP decline in 2020, it rose back to pre-pandemic levels during the second quarter of 2021.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].