April ICT Exports Down 15.3%... Semiconductor, Display, and Mobile Phone All Declined Due to COVID-19

by Moon Chaeseok

Published 14 May.2020 11:00(KST)

China's Exports Negative for 2 Consecutive Months... February Turned Positive After 16 Months, Then Fell Due to COVID-19
Government: "Memory and Systems Declined Simultaneously Due to Semiconductors and Global Consumption Slump"

Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Factory. (Photo by Samsung Electronics)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Last month, South Korea's exports of the three major information and communication technology (ICT) products?semiconductors, displays, and mobile phones?all declined. Overall ICT exports fell by more than 15%. This was largely due to reduced global demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 14th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that last month's ICT export value was $12.88 billion, down 15.3% compared to the same month last year. The average daily export value decreased by 7.6% year-on-year to $590 million.

South Korea's ICT exports had turned positive for the first time in 16 months in February, recording -1.7% in November 2018, and showed growth for two consecutive months. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality from the second quarter, it negatively impacted performance, turning exports negative in April.

First, semiconductors, the largest ICT export item, remained at $7.26 billion, down 15.1% year-on-year. Both memory (-14.9%) and system (-12.9%) semiconductors declined due to global consumption stagnation and demand slowdown.

Semiconductor exports showed a worsening trend with 9.3% growth in February, -2.7% in March, and -15.1% in April. System semiconductors increased slightly by 0.4% to $1.65 billion, but memory semiconductors fell sharply by 26.2% to $1.42 billion.

At least the price of NAND flash (64Gb) rose for five consecutive months. It increased from $2.35 in December last year to $2.46 in January, $2.56 in February, $2.61 in March, and $2.62 last month.

Display exports recorded $1.24 billion, down 28.1% year-on-year.

The decline was exacerbated by decreased demand for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels used in smartphones and TVs, as well as the transition of liquid crystal display (LCD) panel processes.

Notably, even OLED exports, which had shown steady growth, turned negative. OLED exports were 13.7% in December last year, 0.4% in January, 2.6% in February, 12.6% in March, but dropped to -25.2% last month.

Mobile phone exports also remained at $650 million, down 37.2% year-on-year. Performance declined due to retail store closures and global consumption stagnation. Both finished products (-43.6%) and parts (-30.5%) decreased simultaneously.

By region, China (including Hong Kong), the largest export market, recorded $6.61 billion, down 16.5% year-on-year. After turning positive for the first time in 16 months in February, it turned negative in March and declined for two consecutive months.

Exports to Vietnam decreased by 34.6% to $1.43 billion.

The United States recorded $1.7 billion, up 9.3% compared to the same period last year. Exports to the European Union (EU) increased by 1.0% year-on-year to $870 million.