South Korea’s exports of information-communication technology products climbed to a new high in the first six months of the year on growing shipments to China and Southeast Asian countries, the government said Wednesday.

In the six months ending on June 30, outbound shipments of ICT products came to $83.83 billion, up 3.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The country’s trade surplus in the ICT sector shrank slightly to $41.68 billion as imports grew at 7.4 percent on-year to $42.15 billion over the cited period.

Still, the surplus in the ICT sector was more than twice the $20.28 billion in overall trade surplus posted in the first half.

“A large increase in shipments of semiconductors and mobile phones helped expand the country’s overall ICT exports despite a slowdown in the global market,” the ministry said in a press release.

In the first half, shipments of semiconductors jumped 10.6 percent on-year to $29.3 billion with exports of mobile phones, including smartphones, also spiking 12.6 percent to $13.1 billion.

Exports of display panels, on the other hand, dropped 8 percent on-year to $13.76 billion.

By country, shipments to China, including its special administrative region of Hong Kong, gained 4.3 percent on-year to $41.88 billion, accounting for nearly half of South Korea’s overall ICT exports in the first half.

Shipments to the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations inched up 0.9 percent on-year to $10.52 billion while those to the United States slipped 0.4 percent to some $8.18 billion.

The ministry forecast the country’s ICT exports to continue rising in the second half, partly on an economic recovery in advanced markets, as well as growing shipments to newly emerging countries, such as China. (Yonhap)