South Korea's exports of information communication technology (ICT) products rose from a year earlier last month, largely on growing shipments to the United States and China, the government said Tuesday.

Outbound shipments of ICT products came to US$15.18 billion in November, up 3.6 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The November figure marked a 5.5 percent drop from $16.07 billion in the previous month. However, it was a turnaround from a 1 percent on-year drop in October.

The country's trade surplus in the ICT sector shrank for the second consecutive month as imports rose 9.4 percent on-year to $7.46 billion. The surplus came to $7.71 billion last month, compared with $8.17 billion in October.

In November, shipments to the United States jumped 16.8 percent on-year to $1.51 billion, with shipments to China, the world's single largest importer of South Korean ICT products, climbing 5.4 percent to $8.04 billion.

Exports to European Union (EU) countries plunged 18.7 percent on-year to $1.05 billion. Exports to Japan also tumbled 14.5 percent to $540 million.

By product, shipments of semiconductors surged 15.9 percent on-year to $5.77 billion while exports of mobile phones and parts slipped 6.3 percent to $2.4 billion, apparently due to competition with Apple Inc.'s latest iPhone.

Exports of mobile phones to EU countries plunged 70.9 percent to $150 million. Those to the U.S. increased 37.5 percent to $720 million, while shipments to China rose 6.1 percent to $730 million.

Outbound shipments of smartphones dropped 28.6 percent on-year to $1.1 billion in November. (Yonhap)