S.Korea's surplus in industrial parts trade exceeds 100 bln USD for 2 years

South Korea's surplus in trade of industrial parts and components exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars for two straight years in 2015, a government report showed Monday.

Trade surplus in the sector was 105.1 billion dollars in 2015 after logging 107.8 billion dollars in 2014, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The industrial parts industry, which had been rattled by a chronic deficit, began to post a surplus in 1997 and has expanded the surplus size since then.

Exports of industrial parts and components came in at 264.7 billion dollars in 2015, down 4.1 percent from a year earlier.

It accounted for 50.2 percent of exports in all industries, surpassing 50 percent for the first time in history.

Industrial parts import reduced at a faster pace of 5.1 percent than exports, posting 159.6 billion dollars in 2015.

By region, industrial parts exports to China, Europe and Japan declined 1.9 percent, 11.2 percent and 13.2 percent each last year, but those to Vietnam jumped 35.2 percent.

By item, the shipments of electronic parts, electrical components and computer parts rose 0.5 percent, 3.2 percent and 13 percent each, but those in textiles, chemicals and plastic materials sank 11.4 percent, 15.2 percent and 9 percent respectively. Enditem