Samsung Electronics accounts for 20% of South Korea’s exports in H1

Seoul: Samsung Electronics Co. was responsible for 20 percent of South Korea’s total exports in the first half of this year, showing its heavy influence on the national economy, its financial report showed on Sunday.

The South Korean tech giant raised 75.2 trillion won ($62 billion) in sales in the first six months of this year, with 86 percent coming from abroad, its semiannual report said.

The overseas revenue accounted for 20.6 percent of total exports of Asia’s fourth-largest economy that stood at 313.4 trillion won over the period.

Samsung Electronics Co.’s Seoul headquarters (Yonhap)

By region, the world’s largest memory chip and handset maker generated 21.2 trillion won in sales from North America, followed by China with 17.8 trillion won, Asia (excluding South Korea and China) and Africa with 16.7 trillion won, and Europe with 9 trillion won, it noted.

While Samsung earned most of its profits from the overseas market, the tech giant paid most of its taxes at home.

It paid a record high 9.5 trillion won of corporate tax in the first half in the nation, up 19.7 percent from a year earlier, its report said.

YONHAP