S.Korea's IT exports record new high in Q1

South Korea's exports of information technology products recorded a new high in the first quarter despite the political unrest in the Middle East and the devastating earthquake in Japan, a government report showed Tuesday.


The nation's outbound shipments of IT products reached 37.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first three months of this year, up 9 percent from the same period of last year, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a monthly report.


The first-quarter reading exceeded the previous quarterly high of 33.4 billion dollars tallied for the first quarter of 2010.


The country's monthly IT exports rose for the 18th consecutive month due to strong demand for mobile phones, semiconductors and TVs.


Shipments of IT products increased 6.2 percent on-year to 13.5 billion dollars in March, according to the report.


By item, exports of semiconductors gained 10.9 percent on-year to 4.48 billion dollars last month, with overseas demand for locally-made mobile phones rising 6 percent to 2.17 billion dollars, the report showed.


The gain in mobile phone shipments was attributable to strong demand for smartphones, which surged 248 percent in March from a year earlier. It marked the triple-digit growth for the 11th straight month.


Shipments of TVs jumped 11.4 percent on-year to 720 million dollars in March, with exports of home appliances rising 5.4 percent, according to the report.


Exports of domestic IT products to China hit a new high of 6.3 billion dollars last month, up 9.4 percent from a year earlier. Shipments to the Mideast and Japan added 29.9 percent and 12.4 percent in March respectively.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)