S. Korea's ICT exports reduce in April on weak global demand

South Korea's information and communications technology (ICT) product exports fell last month as the global ICT industry fell into low growth, a government report showed Monday.

Exports of ICT products, including chips, mobile phones and TVs, reduced 2.7 percent from a year earlier to 14.34 billion U.S. dollars in April, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Imports of those products increased 3.9 percent to 7.57 billion U.S. dollars last month, sending the April trade surplus in the sector to 6.77 billion U.S. dollars.

Chip exports expanded 6.9 percent to 5.16 billion U.S. dollars, and shipments of computers and related devices gained 18.2 percent to 640 million U.S. dollars in April.

Shipments of mobile phones, including smartphones and feature phones, declined 4.7 percent from a year earlier to 2.33 billion U. S. dollars in April, with those for display panels sliding 6.5 percent to 2.22 billion U.S. dollars. Digital TV exports tumbled 36.7 percent to 410 million U.S. dollars.

The ministry said the sluggish exports came as the global ICT market faced a slowdown this year. According to market researcher Gartner, the global ICT market is expected to post a negative growth for the first time in six years in 2015.

By region, ICT exports to the United States and the European Union plunged 26.8 percent and 29.8 percent each last month, but those to China and ASEAN nations increased 1.8 percent and 26.8 percent respectively. Endi