KOREA'S EXPORTS OF SEMICONDUCTOR CHIPS DOWN FOR TWO YEARS
SEOUL, March 5 Asia Pulse - Exports of South Korea's main
export item, semiconductor chips, are being stalled for two
years in a row, while the country's chip imports have remained
at the two-digit level over the past four years.
The surplus in semiconductor chip trade, which amounted to
more than US$10 billion, has now withered to a mere $4.5
billion.
The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said chips
exports have been skidding after hitting a peak in 1995 with
exports of $22.1 billion. They fell to $17.8 billion the
following year, down 19.3 percent, and to $17.4 billion last
year, down 2.4 percent.
The slowdown in exports over the past two years has been
attributed to a rapid cut in the price of 16 Megabit DRAM
chips.
On the contrary, the imports of semiconductor chips
amounted to $6.5 billion in 1994, $9.1 billion in 1995, and
$10.5 billion in 1996. They amounted to $12.9 billion last
year, up 22.2 percent from the year before.
The surplus in chips trade, the highest in 1995 with $13
billion, declined to $7.3 billion the following year and then
shrivelled to $4.5 billion last year.
Production of central processing units in computers and
semi-finished assembly package units of computers, where
non-memory chips are needed, have been responsible for the
increase in chip imports, and would continue to expand,
industry sources said. |
