South Korea's exports of information communication technology products backtracked in October, due to weak global demand, government data showed Thursday.

Outbound shipments of ICT products hit US$16.04 billion last month, down 1.6 percent from $16.29 billion tallied the year before, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It said while exports fell compared to the previous year, the total actually represents a monthly high for 2015. The previous record was $15.9 billion reached in September.

"There has been a general weakening of demand globally that is affecting exports," a ministry official said. He, however, claimed that South Korea has generally faired better than many other ICT exporters.

Imports, on the other hand, jumped 10.4 percent on-year to $8.77 billion last month, with the country logging a surplus of $7.27 billion in this sector.

The decrease in ICT exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy was attributed to drop in shipments of semiconductors and displays that fell 7.5 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively, vis-a-vis October 2014.

These losses offset gains in mobile phones and computers that advanced 37.6 percent and 3.8 percent, each. Computers include various computer-related peripheral devices.

Exports of semiconductors stood at $5.5 billion, while the numbers for mobile phones reached $3.33 billion. Mobile phones sales were fueled by the release of the latest models, such as the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus by Samsung Electronics Co.

The ministry said exports of solid state disks, a key computer peripheral device, shot up 23.5 percent on-year to $350 million.

By region, shipments to China, the world's single largest market for South Korean products, moved up 5.4 percent on-year to $8.88 billion, with exports to the United States gaining 7 percent to $1.72 billion.

On the downside, outbound shipments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries fell 1 percent to $1.98 billion, with numbers for the European Union and Japan all losing ground.

In regards to imports, the total marked an all-time monthly high, with the increase being attributed to rise in demand for mobile phones and semiconductors.

In the first 10 months of this year South Korea's ICT exports effectively remained unchanged compared to the year before at $145.56 billion.

The ministry said that despite exports losing ground last month, ICT shipments have helped prop up the country's export sector, which has been declining steadily in 2015.

In the January-October period of this year, outbound shipments of all products backtracked 7.6 percent on-year to $440.34 billion, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)