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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (4782)	5/6/2005 5:01:42 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

IT Exports Lose Steam By Kim Tae-gyu Staff Reporter South Korea's information technology (IT) exports show a clear sign of losing steam as its year-on-year export growth rates slow to a snail's pace. The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) said Friday the country's outbound shipment of high-tech products stood at $6.24 billion in April, up a mere 1.7 percent from a year ago. This poor growth rate is in sharp contrast to last year when the country trod in the double-digit territory with the sole exception of December. The Asia's third-largest economy's high-tech exports grew by 29.6 percent last year, or $74.5 billion, exceeding its original goal of $70 billion. Korea got off to a solid start this year as its growth clip was 13.5 percent in January but the rate fell to 0.5 percent in February, 5.8 percent in March and 1.7 percent last month. ``The appreciation of the Korean won drew back IT exports. In particular, free-falling shipments to the United States undermined the overall performance,'' MIC director Koh Nak-joon said. IT exports to China and the EU jumped 19.8 percent and 9.8 percent to $2 billion and $1 billion in April, respectively. However, the U.S. snapped up just $950 million in made-in-Korea products, down by 25.1 percent from a year earlier. The Korean won soared more than 10 percent over the past 12 months and currently fluctuates in the neighborhood of 1,000 won for a dollar. By item, Korea sold $2.44 billion semiconductors and $1.91 billion mobile phones for hikes of 6.2 percent and 18.8 percent each from the corresponding period of 2004. Yet, liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor and set-top box suffered setbacks by slipping 23.7 percent and 36.2 percent to $520 million and $60 million, apiece. Koh said the ministry is likely to change its IT export target of $85.4 billion for this year as the nation is on pace of reaching a paltry $74.3 billion for the full year 2005, based on Jan.-April figures. ``We started checking the viability of the IT export goal as it seems unattainable for now. Maybe we will downgrade the aim in July after analyzing first-half performance,'' Koh said. voc200@koreatimes.co.kr 05-06-2005 17:06 times.hankooki.com