SEOUL April 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's export of information and communication technology (ICT) products kept growing for the 10th consecutive month last month, a government report showed Wednesday.
The ICT export amounted to 17.41 billion U.S. dollars in March, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. It continued to rise since June last year.
Import in the ICT sector picked up 15.7 percent to 10.93 billion dollars, sending the trade surplus in March to 6.48 billion dollars.
The daily average export of ICT products expanded 8.9 percent last month due to strong demand for locally-made semiconductors and mobile phones.
Chip export advanced 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 9.57 billion dollars in March, and the display panel shipment rose 2.9 percent to 1.69 billion dollars.
Mobile phone export increased 8.7 percent to 1.1 billion dollars, and shipment for computers and peripherals grew 6.7 percent to 1.31 billion dollars.
The ICT export to China, South Korea's biggest trading partner, gained 7.7 percent to 8.22 billion dollars last month, keeping an upward trend for the seventh consecutive month.
Shipment to the United States continued to go up for 15 straight months, and export to the European Union (EU) spiked in double figures.
The ICT shipment to Vietnam and Japan slipped in single digits in March on a yearly basis. Enditem
