Seoul, Dec 5 (IANS): Trade surplus in the South Korea's information technology (IT) industry hit a new high last month due to solid demand for handsets and semiconductors, a government report showed Wednesday.

Trade surplus in the IT sector reached a record monthly high of $7.86 billion in November, up from $7.1 billion for October, according to the ministry of knowledge economy.

The figure was larger than a surplus of $4.48 billion for the overall industry, indicating that the country's trade surplus was mainly led by the upbeat momentum in the IT sector, reported Xinhua.

Exports expanded 12.2 percent on-year to $14.52 billion in November, staying above the $14 billion mark for three months in a row. The double-digit growth was the first in 22 months. Imports contracted 2.2 percent to $6.66 billion over the same period.

"Despite the worsening external conditions such as the eurozone fiscal crisis and the US fiscal cliff issue, the IT exports topped the $14 billion for three straight months, leading the overall industry exports," the ministry said.

Strong demand for handsets and semiconductors led the double-digit export growth.

Handset exports jumped 23.5 percent on-year to $2.32 billion last month, marking the largest this year. South Korea ranked first in terms of global market share of smartphone for six straight quarters in the third quarter.

Exports of semiconductors expanded 12.9 percent to $4.6 billion last month, keeping a growth trend for the second consecutive month. Shipments of memory chips

declined 11.6 percent due to weak global demand for PCs, but the reduction was offset by an export of system chips that surged 33.4 percent on an on-year basis.