South Korea’s exports of information communication technology products dropped 1.9 percent in 2015 from a year earlier on slow global demand, government data showed Monday.

Outbound shipments of ICT products hit $172.89 billion in 2015, compared to $176.23 billion in the year before, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

This marked the first on-year decline since 2012 when it fell 0.9 percent on-year.

“South Korea’s ICT exports experienced difficult market conditions last year but it did very well considering that the global ICT industry growth for 2015 retreated 5.8 percent,” said the Trade Ministry in a press release.

Imports, on the other hand, gained 3.6 percent on-year to hit $91.32 billion last year, with the country logging a surplus of $81.56 billion in this sector.

The decrease in ICT exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy was mostly attributed to declining shipments of display panels and digital TVs which fell 6.8 percent and 26.1 percent from a year ago, respectively.

By region, shipments to China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 3.8 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively, while those to the European Union and the United States fell 23.8 percent and 2.6 percent.

(khnew@heraldcorp.com)