S Korea's IT exports fall in June

SEOUL, July 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports of information technology (IT) products fell 11.6 percent on year in June due to sluggish overseas sales amid the global economic slump, the government said Monday.

According to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, South Korean exports of semiconductors, mobile phones and other IT products decreased 11.6 percent on year to 10.17 billion U.S. dollars last month.

Imports, on the other hand, decreased 17.1 percent to mark 5.35billion U.S. dollars to mark a surplus of 4.82 billion U.S. dollars, the ministry said.

Although IT industry exports made an on-year fall, the rate of negative growth slowed down, an official at the ministry said.

IT exports declined 39.2 percent on-year in December but contracted 26.8 percent in March and 17.1 percent in May, which may be hinting at some improvements in overseas demand, the official said.

During the first half of 2009, IT exports totaled 52.66 billion U.S. dollars, while imports posted 28.98 billion U.S. dollars for a surplus of 24.58 billion U.S. dollars.