Korea’s information technology exports reached a record high of $156.97 billion in 2011 mainly due to strong overseas demand for smartphones and system semiconductors, a government report showed Thursday.

The figure is a 2 percent gain from the $153.94 billion tallied in 2010 and marks the second year in a row that outbound shipments of IT products set new records, the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.

Imports grew 7.8 percent to $81.52 billion with the country posting a trade surplus of $75.45 billion last year. This is a slight decrease from the record $78.32 billion surplus reached in 2010.

“The export growth and surplus figure is noteworthy because the fiscal crisis in some European countries, the flood in Thailand and other developments all exerted negative influence on global trade last year,” the ministry said.

IT exports were buoyed by a surge in global demand for smartphones, system semiconductors and new hardware-software convergence products, it said.

Exports of smartphones alone surged 53.5 percent to $11.88 billion, which contributed to Korea becoming the No.1 producer of mobile phones last year. The global market share of Korean smartphones reached 27.1 percent in the third quarter making it the world leader in the field.

Overall semiconductor exports dipped 1.1 percent to $50.15 billion, although overseas shipment of system chips jumped 24.0 percent on-year to $20.0 billion.

Exports of TV sets gained 4.8 percent to $7.81 billion, with numbers for display panels as well as computers and related appliances falling 7.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. The dip in computer sales was offset to some extent by a 180 percent increase in the export of tablet PCs last year.

China, which imported $73.86 billion worth of Korean IT products, was the largest overseas market, with exports to Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations all rising 6.8 percent and 10.1 percent each last year. However, shipments to the United States and the European Union contracted.

The report also showed smartphone imports rose 38.2 percent to $5.28 billion last year. Local demand for electronic parts jumped 15.2 percent to $46.59 billion or roughly 55 percent of all IT imports. 

(Yonhap News)