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S Korea to export record number of handsets this year

South Korea is expected to export a record US$14.5 billion worth of cellular phones this year in a major boost to the country's economic recovery efforts, the Yonhap news agency said yesterday.

South Korea exported 112 million cellphones worth US$9.6 billion last year, accounting for 26.8 percent of worldwide hand-set production.

In the first eight months of this year, cellular phone exports jumped 36.1 percent compared to the same period last year to US$7.45 billion, Yonhap said, quoting officials at the Ministry of Information and Communication.

The officials predicted that shipments will pick up during the remaining three months, helping prop up the nation's slumping economy, Yonhap said. The country's GDP is expected to be under 3 percent this year, compared to 6.3 percent last year.

The companies leading the export growth are Samsung Electronics Co and LG Electronics Co, which together are expected to ship more than US$10 billion worth of cell phones this year.

Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest handset vendor, said that it can reach its sales target of US$7.27 billion this year, helped by expanded demand in the North American and Middle East markets.

Samsung Electronics also plans to sell smart phones, which feature an operating system for running software in handsets, in North America in the third-quarter.

LG Electronics, the world's sixth-largest handset maker, also targets US$2.73 billion in cell phone exports this year, Yonhap said.

LG Electronics officials said its cell phone exports to the US are expected to far exceed expectations, helped by aggressive marketing campaigns by the country's two wireless giants -- Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS -- and faster-than-expected handset replacements as more consumers are switching to camera-equipped phones, Yonhap said.

Meanwhile, Pantech & Curitel Co, South Korea's third-largest mobile handset maker, said yesterday it has received an order to export 2.6 million cell phones worth US$430 million to American distributor Audiovox Corp. The CDMA-based phones would include color screens and built-in cameras.

"The deal provides us a stable foothold to enter the US mobile phone market," the company said in a statement.

"This is our first shipment of high-quality phones to the US market and we want to expand sales further in the future," Song Moon-seop, a chief executive of the company, said in the statement.
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