South Korea’s memory-chip exports increased in October for the first time in 16 months, offering more evidence for the revival of demand for the country’s most important products.
Memory exports rose 1% from a year ago after dropping 18% in September, according to data released Tuesday by the trade ministry. Multi-chip packages led the rebound, rising 12.2%, while the sales of dynamic random access memory — the most lucrative category — narrowed their decline to single digits for the first time in more than a year.
Semiconductors form the backbone of exports for South Korea’s economy, which the central bank sees growing 2.2% next year, should trade improvement hold up. That would be a pick-up from a 1.4% expansion expected for this year.
South Korea’s overall shipments abroad rose last month for the first time since late last year, in a positive sign for the nation’s growth outlook and recovering demand from the global economy. The breakdown of technology exports on Tuesday bears out the view that semiconductors would lead the growth in exports for South Korea and underpin economic momentum.
A further analysis of technology exports showed display sales increased 13.1% in October from a year earlier, a pick-up from 1% growth a month earlier. Mobile-phone shipments fell 3.3%, a more moderate decline than the 5.2% fall in September.
