S. Korea's IT sector to face uphill climb in coming months

SEOUL (Yonhap) - South Korea's information technology (IT) sector is bracing for tough times as Europe's fiscal crisis and foreign exchange market volatility raise downside risks, a government source said Thursday.
An Byung-hwa, head of the knowledge economy ministry's export-import division, said after a meeting of exporters that many executives had complained of hard times and expected this to continue until the first half of 2012.
The meeting was chaired by Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung to examine the latest developments in international trade conditions.
"Companies that make mobile phones, semiconductors and other IT-related products were hard hit by the sluggish global economy," the official said.
Corporate executives at the meeting concurred that the situation could "bottom out" this month, he said, although most believed the situation would not improve until after mid 2012.
An also said that while a weak won will initially benefit exporters, uncertainties in the foreign exchange market would be detrimental to trade in the long run.
"Companies will be hard-pressed to set up long term plans for doing business abroad," the official said.
The ministry, which is in charge of industrial and trade promotion, said that while overall trade volume for September will increase compared to last year, the size of the surplus may fall off.
The government releases tentative findings on the country's export and import volume on the first of every month.