According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's announcement of September import and export trends, exports of key items in the ICT sector showed favorable or increased performance.

Key items such as wireless communication devices (strong performance of Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+), semiconductors (strong performance of system semiconductors), automotive parts, and home appliances (strong exports of TV components from overseas production bases) increased.

Export volume expected to increase in October due to the year-end peak season

In addition, SSDs in the computer sector showed a strong trend, while tablets and monitors performed poorly. Looking at the export growth rates (%), wireless communication devices recorded 40.9%, automotive parts 5.0%, semiconductors 1.4%, home appliances 1.4%, computers -11.7%, and flat panel displays -13.0%.

Exports of new items such as OLEDs and SSDs showed a strong trend. Their export growth rates (%) were 2.5% for OLEDs and 7.0% for SSDs.

As such, previously sluggish sectors such as auto parts and home appliances turned to growth, while new items like SSDs also continued their favorable trend.

The report stated that export volume is expected to increase in October ahead of the year-end peak season in major markets, including North American Black Friday (fourth week of November) and European Boxing Day (around December 25).

However, the export growth rate is expected to be negative due to the base effect of the all-time high export performance ($51.6 billion) in October last year and the impact of low oil prices.