South Korean exports by "new growth" businesses rose an average of 5 percent annually in the past four years, a local trade report said Monday.

Exports by companies whose businesses range from robotics, semiconductors, next-generation displays and bio health to aerospace jumped to $76.7 billion in 2016 from $63.2 billion in 2012, the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) said in a recent report. 

This is in contrast to the average 2.5 percent decline in the country's overall exports during the same period, the report said.

By country, China accounted for $21.1 billion, or 28 percent, of the country's total exports of new growth products last year, followed by Vietnam with 22.1 percent and India with 13 percent, KITA said.

"As nearly half of new-growth businesses are small and medium-sized companies, the government needs to provide tax benefits and other incentives to boost the good growth potential of new-growth industries," the report said.

Many of the new-growth companies are engaged in the fourth industrial revolution. The latest industrial revolution represents the combination of the physical, digital and biological worlds through a range of new technologies. Such a development is expected the change most jobs down the line. (Yonhap)