As South Korea’s exports continue to plunge, the country’s leading electronics firms posted record-high inventories as of the end of the third quarter.

Though it does not entirely reflect the volume of its finished products, higher inventory signals fewer goods sold. 

Samsung Electronics, the nation’s leading smartphone manufacturer, posted roughly 22.84 trillion won ($19.4 billion) in inventory assets, the largest amount to date, according to the company’s regulatory filings.

“Samsung Electronics has been seeing a continuous increase in its inventory assets, amid declining demands for consumer electronics including smartphones and TVs since the beginning of the year,” said an industry source.

Korea’s leading chipmaker SK hynix held about 1.87 trillion won in inventory assets in the third quarter, up by more than 320 billion won compared to the same period last year.

The company’s inventory assets have been piling up over the past two years since it experienced a major drop in inventories in 2013, when a fire broke out at its production site in Wuxi, China.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)