South Korea's ICT exports rise for 2 months despite flagging overall exports

South Korean exports in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry gained for two straight months through June despite flagging exports for overall industries, a government report showed Thursday.

ICT exports rose 0.2 percent from a year earlier to 13.95 billion U.S. dollars in June after growing 2 percent in May, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Imports in the ICT sector reduced 2.4 percent to 7.28 billion dollars, sending the ICT trade surplus to 6.67 billion dollars in June.

The brisk exports came despite the sluggishness in the global ICT market and worsened trade conditions caused by Greece debt crisis. According to market researcher Gartner, the global ICT market was expected to shrink 1.3 percent in 2015.

The country's exports in all industries declined 1.8 percent in June from a year earlier, keeping a downward trend for the sixth consecutive month.

Despite the worsened trade conditions, the ICT exports kept an upward trend for two months thanks to global demand for locally- made smartphones and semiconductors.

Mobile phone exports jumped 19.4 percent on-year in June, posting a double-digit increase for two months in a row. It was attributable to the launch of new models, including Samsung's Galaxy S6 smartphone and LG's G4.

Chip exports climbed 3 percent on the back of strong demand for system chips used for mobile devices, relieving the negative effect from price falls in DRAM memory chips.

Shipments of display panels declined 12.7 percent on expanded production in oversea factories and lower prices of mid-sized panels. Digital TV exports tumbled 36 percent on weak demand from European countries.

The 6.67-billion-dollar surplus in the ICT sector accounted for more than half of the 10.24-billion-dollar surplus in overall industries.

Surplus from China was the largest among trading partners of 4. 82 billion dollars in June, but South Korea posted 360 million dollars of deficit in ICT trade with Japan amid the weak Japanese yen trend.