South Korea’s outbound shipments of information and communication technology products and trade surplus in the sector surged to new annual highs last year, the government said Thursday.

In 2013, the country’s exports of ICT products amounted to $169.4 billion, up 9.1 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Its trade surplus in the ICT sector jumped 14.1 percent on-year to $88.6 billion in 2013 while imports gained 3.7 percent to $80.8 billion.

“ICT exports helped the country post a positive growth in its overall exports and trade surplus in 2013, accounting for 30.3 percent of the country’s total exports,” the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry earlier said the country’s overall trade surplus came to a new high of $44.19 billion last year, meaning the surplus in the ICT sector more than made up for losses in other industrial sectors.

By country, shipments of ICT products to China, including Hong Kong, posted an on-year growth for the 12th consecutive year in 2013, rising 8.2 percent from a year earlier to $85.55 billion.

Shipments to the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations spiked 24.3 percent on-year to $21.33 billion with exports to North American countries surging 18 percent to $17.36 billion.

Exports to Japan, on the other hand, plunged 16.9 percent on-year to $6.95 billion in 2013.

(Yonhap News)