SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export of information and communications technology (ICT) products fell for 12 straight months to October amid the continued downturn of the global semiconductor industry, a government report showed Thursday.
The ICT export tumbled 23.3 percent from a year earlier to 15.49 billion U.S. dollars in October, keeping a downward trend for the 12th consecutive month, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Import in the ICT sector amounted to 9.35 billion dollars, sending the trade surplus to 6.14 billion dollars.
Chip export plunged 32.1 percent to 7.95 billion dollars as memory chip price declined amid the lingering downturn of the global chip industry.
Display panel shipment contracted 27 percent to 1.92 billion dollars on the lower price for liquid crystal panel (LCD), and mobile phone export reduced 6.7 percent to 1.33 billion dollars.
The ICT shipment to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, dropped 29.4 percent, and those to the European Union (EU) and the United States diminished 9.4 percent and 21.7 percent each last month.
