SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's mobile phone exports posted a steep decline last month as Samsung Electronics discontinued its latest flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 7 on reports of catching fire and overheating, a government report showed on Thursday.
Exports in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector declined 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 14.94 billion U.S. dollars in October, marking the 13th straight month of fall, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (MOTIE).
Mobile phone exports especially showed a sharp slide, plunging 33.1 percent to 2.22 billion dollars on Samsung's decision to end production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 devices, some of which were reported to have caught fire.
The falling pace in mobile phone shipments continued to rise from 8.3 percent in June to 18.1 percent in August amid stiff competition with Chinese manufacturers and Samsung's archrival Apple.
The country's display panel exports shed 5.2 percent to 2.59 billion dollars, but those for semiconductors gained 1.7 percent to 5.59 billion dollars.
Imports in the ICT industry was 8.2 billion dollars in October, sending the ICT trade surplus to 6.73 billion dollars that accounted for more than 90 percent of the total surplus in all industries.
