S Korea's IT exports post 13.06 bln USD in Aug.

South Korea's exports of information technology (IT) products reached 13.06 billion U.S. dollars in August due to strong demand for the locally-made smartphones and TVs, a government report showed Wednesday. Exports of IT products such as memory chips, display panels and handsets reached 13.06 billion dollars in August, down 2.4 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement. For the first eight months of this year, IT exports amounted to 103.51 billion dollars, up 3.8 percent from the previous year. The on-year decline of August IT exports was in contrast to the 27.1 percent on-year gain of the overall industry's overseas shipments over the same period. It was mainly attributed to reduction in exports of locally-made memory chips and display panels. Sharp falls in the unit prices of memory chips and flat screen panels contributed to reduction in exports of those products in terms of monetary value, according to the statement. The unit price of a dynamic random access memory chip (DRAM) dropped to 0. 57 dollar in August from 2.4 dollar a year earlier, with flat screen panel for TVs declining from 339 dollars to 251 dollars over the cited period. Meanwhile, the nation's IT exports breached above the 13 billion dollar mark in August for eighth straight months helped by brisk overseas shipments of smartphones and TVs, according to the statement. Exports of mobile phones jumped 10.2 percent on-year to 2.07 billion dollars in August due to enhanced competitiveness of smartphones manufactured by local makers. South Korea became the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer in the second quarter with a 23.1 percent share of the global market. Overseas shipments of TVs expanded 10.2 percent on-year to 770 million dollars last month due to brisk demand for 3-dimensional TVs and smart TVs, while exports of tablet computers jumped 17.9 percent on-year to reach 200 million dollars. By country, weaker exports to advanced nations were offset by growing shipments to emerging countries such as China. Exports to the United States contracted 20.4 percent on-year to 1.17 billion dollars in August, with shipments to the European Union (EU) and Japan falling 31.3 percent and 0.8 percent over the cited period. In August, overseas shipments of the nation's IT products to China, including Hong Kong, rose 3.1 percent on-year to 6.45 billion dollars, which accounted for 49.4 percent of the nation's total IT exports. Overseas shipments to the Middle East countries grew 17.2 percent on-year to 330 million dollars last month.